That's What Friends Are For
by MJohn41468
Summary: When the Halliwell sisters Prue, Piper and Phoebe are married with kids and 30 years older and reunites with an old friend. They decide to tell their longtime friend what they are, and look back to when Phoebe literally bumps into her, craziness and comedic scenes ensues after that! Mild violence.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: **I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

**Prologue**

It was a cool evening in San Francisco on June 19, 2030 as Piper and her husband Leo were driving along the highway on their way to Piper's newly owned restaurant named 'Halliwells.' Piper decided she wanted to remain a chef and left P3 to Phoebe and her husband Owen so it would be kept in the family.

"I'm sure that we're late Leo," Piper said as she kept looking at her watch.

"Everything is fine. Phoebe said 6:30 and it's just that now!" Leo said.

They arrive at the restaurant, and pull up to the valet as Leo gets out and walks to Piper's side. Gary, the valet beats him to it and says, "Let me Mr. Wyatt, it's my job."

"Oh that's okay Gary, I'd like to open the door for my wife tonight, thank you though," Leo says as he slips him a twenty-dollar bill.

"Thank you sir. Have a wonderful evening tonight," Gary says tipping his hat to him.

Leo opens the door as he extends his hand to Piper, and she takes it and steps out. Piper is wearing a red beautiful full length low cut dress with a flowing tail and a wrap.

"I'm sure it was six," Piper said as they walk down the red carpet and into the restaurant.

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt. You're party has just arrived," Colin, the maitre 'd said.

"Um...maybe I could be wrong!" Piper said looking sheepishly up at Leo with a smile. "Thank you Colin. Is everything going all right tonight?"

"Yes ma'am. Everything is going smoothly," as Colin gives Leo a wink.

Leo winks back as if he knows something is going to happen. "See, what did I tell you. You always think you're right all the time," Leo said as he looked down lovingly and gave her a kiss.

Phoebe noticed her sister and Leo walking in. "Hey! It's Piper," Phoebe chimed in who's sitting next to her husband Owen, "Look who has joined us!"

Piper looked at the woman who was sitting at the table, and didn't quite make out her face. "I'm sorry, but I feel so embarrassed, but you don't look familiar to me," Piper said.

"Piper! Are you kidding me? You don't know who this is?" Phoebe said, who couldn't believe she didn't recognize her.

"Piper honey, come on, even I know her," Leo elbowed her as he stood up. "Owen and I are going to go to the bar; we'll let you girls catch up okay."

"Okay, we won't be too long," Piper tells him as he kisses her.

Owen gets up and gives Phoebe a kiss and leaves with Leo. Piper sat for a moment, looking at her and began recognizing her. "Oh no, your kidding, you can't be-is it Rachel! Oh my gosh! It is!" Piper practically screams and gets up and runs to the other side of the table and they both hug each other. Suddenly, Piper notices she's making a spectacle of herself. "Oh, I don't care, I'm just so glad to see you. I can't believe I didn't recognize you, I guess that goes with the territory of being 59-years-old." Piper laughs. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I wanted to pop in and surprise my favorite 'sister,' no offense to you Phoebe and Prue," Rachel said.

"Oh, that's okay, we know what you mean," Phoebe says as she sniffles and begins to pretend crying as Prue pats her on the back.

Prue then follows suit and she pretends to cry and says, "Oh, I can't go on anymore. Rachel doesn't love us anymore," she pretends to blow her nose, "Please someone kill me now."

"Oh, you GUYS! You're still a bunch of goofballs. You guys never changed," Rachel said as they all laugh together.

After they all calm down a bit, Piper sees John the waiter and waves him. "Hi John, could send over a bottle of our best champagne, we have something to celebrate."

"You're not kidding. Hey! How are you guys doing?" Rachel asked.

"Oh just terrific!" Piper said.

"Do you have any kids? I'm sure you would by now," Rachel said.

"Well, I have three kids myself. I have one son and two girls," Piper answered with a little grin, "Well first there is my oldest which is my son, his name is Ryan, he's 24, then my daughter Melinda, after one of our grandmothers, who's 22, then my youngest daughter, her name is...uh...well, her name is Rachel."

"Oh no!" she said covering her mouth in astonishment, "My gosh, you're kidding. Well I guess in a way you never did forget me," Rachel said as a few tears ran down her face as she took a tissue out of her purse, "Well, what about you Prue?"

"Well, my oldest son is 26, his name is Parker, my other son is 24 and his name is Peter, my daughter is 22 and her name is Patricia, after our mother, and my youngest daughter is 19, and her name is Paula," Prue tells her.

"That's funny, four more P's," Rachel says laughing. "And how about you Phoebe?"

Phoebe tries not to laugh at Rachel's comment. "Well, Owen and I have three children-all girls. Are oldest daughter, she's 21, her name is Jessica, our middle daughter is 19, her name is Brianna, after one of our aunts, and our youngest is 16, and her name is Angela," Phoebe says.

"WOW! That's some family you have there! I would take a guess that you're still living in the manor," Rachel says.

"Yeah, well, it's not so bad. We decided to add onto the manor, we thought we really couldn't leave Grams' house," Prue says, "It really doesn't seem crowded, since it is a big house anyway. It's actually kind of cozy to have Halliwells together."

"Hey Rachel, what about you? Are you married? Do you have any kids?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, yes, I'm married to a wonderful man; I've been married for almost 25 years now. His name is Brian Williams. Isn't that a kicker? I don't even have to change my last name. We have three beautiful daughters, and you'll never believe what their names are," Rachel said as she rolled her eyes

Prue didn't have to think too long, then she realized. "Oh brother! Oh no, you got to be kidding me," Prue said.

Then Phoebe looked at Prue and then she figures it out. "WHAT! Oh my gosh. You can't be serious, can you?" Phoebe tells her.

"What?" Piper asks looking confused. John, the waiter comes to the table and sets down the glasses and pours the champagne into each glass. "Thank you John," Piper tells him.

"You're welcome, Mrs. Wyatt," John says.

"Piper? Think about it. She has three girls, she's been married for 25 years..." Prue tells her.

Piper thinks for a minute, still confused.

"Oh, come on Piper. If you can't figure this out you must be old," Phoebe chuckles.

"Okay. Okay Piper, I named my daughters: Phoebe, Piper and Prue," Rachel said smiling.

"Oh my gosh, you didn't," Piper says with astonishment.

"Yes, Phoebe's 19, Piper's 22 and Prue is 24. I decided to name them after 'my' sisters. And I want to ask you three to be their godmothers, if that's okay with you," Rachel smiled, as a few tears ran down her face.

Prue, Phoebe and Piper couldn't believe what they just heard, they were amazed as they began getting teary-eyed. They all got up together and gave Rachel a huge hug.

"We would be honored to be godmothers to your daughters," Prue said.

"Oh as for your husbands, they too would be godfathers to them. Oh hey that reminds me Prue, where is your husband tonight?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, well Bane is on-duty tonight, he's a detective...or should I say an Inspector. I guess old-habits die hard," Prue said, meaning that Andy was an Inspector as well.

"Oh, yes. It's hard not to forget about Andy, I remember him in high school. He was so cute," Rachel said, "It's hard to believe he's not around anymore. I bet you still miss him, don't you Prue?"

"Yes, well...I do miss him very much. I still love him, and Bane knows it and he doesn't mind," Prue says sadly.

"By the way, how did he die? I mean I know it was in the line-of duty, but what happened?" Rachel asked.

Prue looked at Phoebe and Piper and then looked down as she fiddled with her silverware. She didn't know what quite to say when Phoebe looked over to Rachel and decided to change the subject. "Hey Rachel, what are you doing back in San Francisco? Or do you still live in San Francisco?"

"Well, there's a Science Convention in town and I brought some of my students on a field trip for a couple of days. I just happened to bump into Phoebe yesterday, and she told me about your new restaurant when she was planning this dinner," Rachel told her.

"Oh no. Phoebe you're kidding...she didn't...I mean you didn't-" Piper began as Phoebe cut her off.

"PIPER! Come on. Do you really think that would happen again?" Phoebe told her.

Rachel looked confused for a second, when she realizes what happened the last time. "Oh no Piper," Rachel said laughing, "Boy Phoebe, aren't you glad we didn't run into each other like we did LAST time?"

"Yes, it was almost like magic, wasn't it?" Phoebe said as Prue and Piper look at each other as Piper kicks Phoebe in the shin. "OUCH!" Phoebe cries.

"You okay Phoebe?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yes, just a little leg cramp," Phoebe says glaring at Piper.

"Yeah, it sure was like magic; there was always something about you guys that was magical. Many weird things happened the last time we got together, didn't it," Rachel said.

Prue cut in quickly to try to change the subject. "Ah, let's order!" Prue said nervously.

"There always was something different with you guys, wasn't there?" Rachel winks at them, "Come on you guys, you can tell me after all these years!" Rachel said.

"Well-!" Phoebe said.

"PHEEBS!" Piper said, glaring at her and kicking her again in the shin.

"OUCH! Come on Piper, I think Rachel deserves an explanation after all these years, don't you think?" Phoebe said.

Rachel looks at Prue, then at Piper and cocks her head and wonders, then looks at Phoebe. "Yes?" Rachel asked.

Phoebe looks to her sisters, then picks up her spoon and begins to make a circle with it, then looks up to Rachel. "You see...we're really...we're really witches. Rachel? Do you remember what happened to you when you had stayed with us for almost nine months? Well, what happened to you was REAL magic. That's why your last experience with us was so...ah...MAGICAL!" Phoebe said.

Rachel slapped the side of the table and exclaimed, "SO THAT'S IT! I knew it was something. Black hats and all? I bet you love flying around on those broomsticks don't you?" Rachel asked.

"Uh, Rachel, can you keep it down, we don't want anybody to know about our little secret, okay," Prue said as she placed her hand on Rachel's arm.

"Well, we don't fly around on a broom, but we do dance around a cauldron sometimes!" Phoebe said.

"Dance?" Prue asked looking at Phoebe and glaring.

"Well, a bit. Only during Wiccan festivals, though!" Phoebe said.

"Good thing we don't have to get naked like we did the first time," Piper whispered to Phoebe.

Phoebe laughed at the comment, remembering what happened the first time.

"What is so funny Phoebe?" Rachel asked.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing," Phoebe said chuckling.

"Okay guys, raise your champagne glasses, I'd like to propose a toast," Piper says standing up, and turns toward Rachel, "Rachel after all these years since the first day you met Phoebe in the 5th grade, somehow we knew we were getting a good friend. I felt it in my heart, that one day we would gain a sister, we didn't know who, or when, but it happened. I want to thank you for giving us-" Piper begins to get a little emotional and teary-eyed when Prue cuts in for her.

"As Piper was trying to say, 'we' want to thank you for being a special friend to us, and we love you very much. We thank God every day for a friend like, and we thank you for-" Prue says as she begins to get teary-eyed as well so Phoebe cuts in.

"As Prue was trying to say-" Phoebe begins saying when they suddenly hear music playing.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe all turn to each other and wonder why that song suddenly began playing. They began looking around and looked to the bar and saw Leo with an orchestra next to him playing a very familiar song.

Rachel begins to get a little teary-eyed, but is confused as to why they all are looking at each other the way they were. Then she looks up and notices Leo. He had brought in an orchestra. She couldn't quite understand what was going on, but then she recognized the song; it was one of her favorite songs.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe were stunned when they heard the song. Leo had the orchestra play, 'That's What Friends Are For.'

Piper wipes her face of tears and sighs. "Okay, okay, let's get this over with, no more crying now," Piper said as she raises her glass and wipes away a falling tear, "Rachel, this song is for you. The words to this song are the words we were looking for. Here's to you: our friend, our special friend-our 'sister' forever and ever."

Prue, Piper and Phoebe look at Rachel and smile as they clink their glasses together as Prue leans over to Rachel and whispers, "AND I hope you won't spread our little secret around," Prue says smiling, "Secrets between sisters? Right?"

Rachel nods and smiles back. "Hey, I definitely don't want people to think I'm crazy and end up in a loony bin in a strait-jacket. It's just between us. It only just seems like yesterday, doesn't it...?


	2. Introduction

**Introduction**

_ In the deepest recesses of the nether world was a dark damp musty cave that has existed since time began. In it lived Ratus (pronounced Ra-tee-us), a creature that was cast from heaven along with the master himself. Of all the angels that followed their master from heaven, only he remained. _

_ Ratus sat meditating in an ancient circle lined with igneous rocks leaching sulfurous fumes. Disturbances came to him across the ether that linked all evil. Too many of his young brethren were being eliminated. Evil was losing its hold on the mortal realm. He pondered the reasons for the losses, and a name came to him. "Halliwell." Many of his brethren's had crossed paths with the Charmed Ones and have lost. They bungled either in having their deeds exposed and stopped or by directly taking on these good witches. _

_ Ratus was determined to end their reign of terror against all that is evil once and for all. Instead of a direct approach, he was determined to tread softly from some direction or through someone that would not be suspect. But, he would wait; wait for the right opportunity. Waiting is easy for a demon who had existed for so long. _

_ "Beware Halliwells," he thought, "For your time will come soon and evil will finally triumph." _


	3. Chapter 1: Discovering An Old Friend

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Discovering An Old Friend**

* * *

It's Monday, 8:30 in the morning at the Halliwell Manor as an ocean breeze blows through the open windows of Piper's bedroom. Piper is still fast asleep curled up in a bundle under her favorite comforter that Grams made for her when she was just a little girl.

Prue is also fast asleep, half in and half out of her bed. Prue had been coming home from work at the oddest times of the morning. Mr. Corso has been giving her so many assignments lately. This time he gave her an assignment to take pictures of scenes in and around Sacramento of local landmarks for a layout in their magazine. Mr. Corso gave her a free plane ticket to fly to Sacramento. The only problem is that her plane leaves in forty-five minutes.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Phoebe's room, she has her comforter pulled over her head as she continues to snore away, which next-door Piper can hear as she slowly wakes up. Piper tries to cover phoebe's snoring by putting her pillow around her ears, but she cannot seem to go back to sleep, so she decides to get up. She looks at her clock and notices that it says: 7:39 am.

"Oh man, it's only 7:30 in the morning, why can't Phoebe snore when I'm fast asleep at 2:00 am," Piper groans. As she looks at the clock again, she notices it is flashing 7:30 am. "WHAT!?" she quickly looks over to her dresser and picks up her watch and tries to focus as she rubs the sleep out of her eyes. "Oh no! It is 8:30 am! That stupid clock, the power must have gone out at 7:30 this morning. Oooh!" Piper says as she tumbles out of bed half-asleep. She gets up and tries to get to Phoebe's room. She bangs her toe against her trunk at the end of her bed. "OW! OW! That stupid trunk," she says as she forgets and kicks the trunk with her sore toe, OH RATS! OW!"

Piper realizes Phoebe has class at 9:00 this morning. She opens Phoebe's door, stumbles to her bed, and tries to shake her awake.

"Phoebe! Phoebe! Wake up, it is 8:30! You have class in thirty minutes," Piper says.

"Go away! Let me sleep, it's still dark!" Phoebe mumbles under the comforter.

"Phoebe, it's only dark because you have the comforter over your head," Piper chuckles as she desperately tries to wake her to no avail. She decides to give Phoebe a light slap on the face to wake her up, whips the comforter totally off the bed, and notices she was talking to Phoebe's feet.

"Phoebe! Come on sweetie, get up," Piper says as she grabs Phoebe's legs and turns them around off the bed. "Come on, Pheebs. If you don't wake up you are going to be sor-ry."

Phoebe grumbles as she is half off the bed and drifts back to sleep.

Meanwhile, Prue starts waking up and wonders what the commotion is all about. She gets up and staggers into Phoebe's room where the noise is.

"What the hell is going on in here?" Prue asks, rubbing her eyes.

Piper jumps as Prue startles her. "Prue? What are you still doing home? You are supposed to have been gone already. Don't you remember? You are supposed to be in Sacramento. Your plane will leave in about thirty minutes," Piper tells her.

"OH NO! I will be so totally FIRED!" Prue says hysterically.

"Prue! Calm down," Piper tells her. Prue turns and starts walking out the door. "Prue, wait! Would you help me get Phoebe out of bed? Time for another shower for little Miss Phoebe, she needs to be taught a lesson in setting her alarm clock."

"Not again," Prue says rolling her eyes at Piper.

"Yes, again. The power went out this morning and Phoebe didn't turn her alarm on again," Piper explains. Piper and Prue both grab Phoebe and drag her into the bathroom.

Just then, Phoebe realizes she is being dragged into the shower. "NO YOU GUYS! NOT AGAIN!" Phoebe screams as she struggles to get out of their grasp.

"This is for your own good!" Piper says to Phoebe. You are the only one that has a battery-operated clock, and you are supposed to set it. This is what happens when the power goes out."

"COME ON GUYS! PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS TO ME! I promise I'll turn the alarm on next time!" Phoebe yells still trying to squirm out of their hands. Piper and Prue hold her down in the shower as Prue turns the cold water on Phoebe. "AAAAH! That is freezing. You GUYS are SO DEAD!" Phoebe yells as she grabs the hand held shower head and starts to spray Prue and Piper with the freezing water.

"AAAAH! PHOEBE! You little witch," Piper laughs at what she just said, knowing she is a witch, "THAT'S IT!" Piper yells as she turns to the sink and grabs the hand held water hose. Prue picks up the shaving cream and douses Phoebe with it. Phoebe and Piper continue spraying each other with water as well as Prue. Soon they are all laughing hysterically as the whole bathroom is dripping with water and shaving cream.

"Okay! Stop! Stop you GUYS!" Prue yells trying to shield herself from the water and shaving cream, "That's enough, now. I have to get on a plane in twenty minutes now, and I am not even showered yet. Well, I guess I am now, sort of. Oh Phoebe, you rat! One of these days, just one of these days! Oooh," Prue yells laughing, with shaving cream over her face.

Piper decides to use the downstairs shower as she quickly leaves before she is sprayed with more water. Phoebe notices the time. "Whoa! I got to take a shower…a HOT shower this time," Phoebe yells out the bathroom door to her sisters, still laughing.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later all the girls are down in the kitchen as Piper makes a quick breakfast for everyone, eggs, toast and coffee. Prue grabs the plate of eggs and the coffee. "Piper is this leaded coffee?" Prue asks.

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?" Piper asks.

"Well, remember that truth spell awhile back?" Prue gulps as she quickly eats her eggs.

"Okay, okay. No, it is unleaded. There are you happy?" Piper chuckles.

Prue laughs as Phoebe turns to Prue. "Okay, guys I got to get to class. Prue, I have a huge favor to ask you, and I would not ask you if it were not important. I mean…have I ever asked you for a favor before. This is a HUGE favor and I…." Phoebe starts as Prue cuts her off.

"Pheebs, if you think you're going to ask a favor after that fiasco earlier, you've got another thing coming," Prue pauses and looks at Phoebe, "Okay, just ask!" Prue tells her.

Phoebe gets down on her knees, takes Prue's hand, kisses it, and says, "Prue, I love you very much and I have always looked up to you…much like I'm doing now."

Piper begins laughing quietly as she covers her mouth to prevent from laughing aloud at this spectacle.

"Okay Pheebs, come on cut the theatrics and get off your knees, just ask already! Or I might just say 'no' now," Prue says smiling.

Phoebe remains on her knees. "Okay, here it goes. Prue can I borrow your jaguar while you are gone? I promise I will take good care of it. It is just that…I am tired of taking the bus or asking my friends for rides. PLEASE! PLEASE!" Phoebe says as she hugs Prue's leg tightly as Piper looks at this scene and cannot help but laugh. Prue cannot take it either and laughs with Piper.

Phoebe looks up at her big sister with a puppy dog look as Prue looks down and pats her on the head and says, "Oh, you're such a good girl aren't you."

Phoebe stands up and smirks at her comedic remark. "Okay, okay just tell me…yes or no?" Phoebe says with a frown on her face as she looks away as if she already knew what the answer would be.

"Pheebs," Prue says.

"What!" Phoebe answers as she sits down at the table with her head in her hands.

"Okay, yes you can use it…." Prue tells her.

Before she can continue what she is saying Phoebe jumps up and tackles Prue and hugs and kisses her on the cheek about a million times, "Oh thank you, thank you. I love you; I love you. You will never regret this. I will take care of it as if it were my own."

"But…" Prue starts.

"Uh-oh. Here it comes," Phoebe says dreading it.

"Oh so you don't love me anymore now, huh? Prue says trying not to smile, "But you have to promise me you'll wash it and keep it clean inside. I don't want your friends smoking in it, okay."

"Okay," Phoebe says as she gives Prue another hug and kiss.

Prue looks at the time. "Oh my gosh, I have to go," Prue says. At that moment, a car honks outside as Prue looks out the window. "Perfect timing, the cab is here. Okay sisters, I will see you in a few days. Be good, and be good to each other. I will see you soon."

Piper can relax now. She does not have to be at the club until noon, so she decides to do some reading while she eats her breakfast.

Phoebe looks at the time and says, "Ooh, Piper, why didn't you tell me my class starts in fifteen minutes. Good thing I know a short cut to school." Phoebe grabs her two pieces of toast, puts the eggs on her toast, puts it together for a sandwich, and takes a bite. "I'll call you later for lunch."

"Okay. Do well in school honey, and do not fight with the boys. If I get a call from the principal's office…" Piper says looking at her with a strict face, and waving a finger in her face.

"Oh, what will you do mommy?" Phoebe asks in a little girl's voice.

"Let's put it this way, you won't be able to sit down for a week," Piper answers back with a stern look on her face trying not to laugh.

"Oooh! Ow! Mommy, it hurts already!" Phoebe says rubbing her rear-end as she walks out the door to the car laughing.

"Oh Pheebs," Piper says chuckling and shakes her head.

* * *

Later, that morning the sun was shining down on Phoebe as she slipped 'The Goo Goo Dolls' newest CD into her CD player and turned the music up loud. She raced along the highway driving Prue's beloved Jaguar that she had been asking Prue for weeks to borrow, and now she finally has it. Phoebe was definitely tired of taking the bus and hitching rides from her college friends. They were younger than she was, and most of them had wheels. She had promised to take very good care of it while Prue was out of town on an assignment for a few days.

It was the first day after spring break, and it was a warm day with the smell of fresh flowers and new green grass in the air. What could possibly go wrong on a day like this? Phoebe swung the car into the student parking lot and headed for an empty space when a car came from her blind side and bumped her from behind. Phoebe hit the brakes stopping suddenly enough that she took the full impact across her chest. Thank goodness, she always wore her seat belt.

"No, no, no. Not with Prue's car. Not when she is finally trusting me. I said that I would be so careful! No, no, no, no!" Phoebe said as she pounded on the steering wheel.

"Are you okay?" cried out a voice. "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry. It's my fault," she said as she looked at the person who was hit and recognized her, "PHOEBE!?"

Phoebe turned and looked up and noticed it was Rachel Williams looking down at her, "Rachel?" Phoebe said in shock, "Uh, what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm taking some college classes here to get my Master's Degree," Rachel answered, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm going back to college myself. I'm trying to figure out what to do with my life," Phoebe told her, "How are you?"

"Not so good. I am the one that ran, or should I say bumped into you! I'm so sorry. Boy, what a way to bump into each other again…literally!" Rachel chuckled, "Are you hurt?"

"No. I am fine, really. It is okay. Wow it's been 14 years since the 5th grade at John Adams Elementary," Phoebe said trying to get out of her seat belt. "Ow!"

"Has it been that long? Wow! Here let me help you," Rachel says looking worried as she grabs her arm and gently helps her out of the car, "Are you sure you're all right, Pheebs? Should I take you to the hospital?"

"No. I am just a little sore. No need for doctors or hospitals. I hate hospitals anyway. So how does the car look?" Phoebe asked holding her chest. Phoebe slowly walked toward the rear of the car and looked at the damage. She saw the damage and let out a long sigh and thought, 'Oh man, Prue is going to kill me'. The bumper had been pushed in, the tail light was broken and the panel over the light was busted.

"Doesn't look too good, does it?" Rachel said scrunching up her nose.

"I'll send somebody from the body shop," Phoebe turns back around to Rachel, "You do have insurance, right?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, yes and no. I have insurance, but last year I was in another accident," she pauses and looks at the car then back to Phoebe, "Can I just cover the damages myself? I just do not want any insurance claims. Please? For old-time sake?" Rachel asked.

"That's up to Prue. It is her car. Why don't you come by our house tonight? We can figure what we can do, and we can catch up on old times. Piper will be glad to see you, too. Dinner is at six," Phoebe said.

"Sure. Do you still live with your Gram?" Rachel asked.

"Well, not exactly, she died a few years ago, but we still live at the manor, though. Grams willed the manor to us," Phoebe said sadly.

"Oh no. I am sorry Phoebe. She was a great lady, and I loved her a lot. She was always kind and caring towards me. How are Prue and Piper taking it?" Rachel asked.

"Well, we're all taking it in stride. It is still hard. I think it affected Prue a lot more, though. She lost a close friend last year, too. You remember Andy right?" Phoebe asked.

"Andy Trudeau? That cute guy in high school. Wasn't he Prue's boyfriend? Oh Phoebe, I am sorry. I definitely want to come. At six right? I want to give my condolences to Prue," Rachel said.

"Yes, six it is. We'll you're going to have to wait, Prue's out of town for a couple of days," Phoebe explained.

"Okay, I can't wait to see Piper. I'll see you later," Rachel said.

Okay, you too," Phoebe said, giving her a hug.

* * *

Later, about 5:54 that night at the manor, Phoebe was following Piper around the house trying to explain what happened to Prue's car and that Rachel was coming over for dinner.

"Uh, Pheebs. Although it's not your fault, Prue will be upset," Piper said.

"I'm sure I can explain it to Prue. Besides, Rachel knew us really well back in high school," Phoebe said.

"Yes, I know that, but we lost track of her after high school when she went to…uh…uh," Piper said trying to remember.

"The University of Texas," Phoebe cut in. "She wanted to be a Marine Biologist once. Now she wants to be a Junior High Science Teacher."

The doorbell rang as Phoebe bounced over to get it. "Hey Rachel! Come on in. It's so good to have you over," Phoebe said hugging her.

"Here, these flowers are for you," Rachel hands the flowers to Phoebe, "I'm still sorry about earlier," Rachel said as she walks into the foyer.

"Think nothing of it. I can handle Prue. Thanks for the flowers that was really sweet of you," Phoebe said as she hugged her again.

"Oh really? This I have to see," Piper says standing with her hands on her hips, who happened to overhear what Phoebe said about Prue. She sees Rachel and smiles. "Hi, Rachel! Hey, it's been much too long," Piper said giving her a hug.

"Wow! I have forgotten how big the manor was. When I was little and used to come over, I always thought it was a castle, but it still seems big. You sure have kept it up nicely," Rachel said.

"Thanks. We try to keep it up. Grams was a stickler for cleanliness," Phoebe said.

Rachel looks at Piper. "Piper, you haven't changed a bit. You still look beautiful as ever."

"Ah shucks," Piper blushed a little, "You wouldn't believe how much I've changed. Come on in," Piper said as she leaned over to Phoebe and whispered, "Meaning…that I've discovered that I'm a witch!"

"I'm sorry, what did you say Piper?" Rachel asked.

"Oh nothing. Nothing. Why don't we go into the living room and talk for a bit, dinner's not quite ready yet," Piper quickly said trying to cover what she whispered to Phoebe, as they all walked into the living room.

* * *

Later, Piper brought out dinner and had a marvelous time talking and catching up with each other. They discovered Rachel has her Bachelor's Degree and received her teacher's credentials. She decided to come to San Francisco to get her Master's Degree.

Rachel discovered that Piper was a chef and still is, and once managed a restaurant called 'Quake'. Now she, Prue, and Phoebe own a nightclub called P3. Prue once was an Antique Appraiser, and now decided to pursue her original career choice as a photographer. As for Phoebe, she is going back to college, but has not found her career choice yet.

"How did you get the name P3? What does that mean?" Rachel asked.

"Well, actually, I thought of that because are names begin with 'P' and there are three of us, I thought it would sound different," Piper answered innocently as she covered up the real reason.

Trying to change the subject quickly, Phoebe asks, "Where are you living now? I mean now that you're staying in San Francisco?"

"Well, right now I'm staying at the YWCA. However, I still cannot find a decent place to live yet. I cannot afford much, yet. I do not even have a job. I am using some money that I saved up over the years. It's barely enough to get by as it is," Rachel told Piper and Phoebe.

"Well, you know what; you're staying with us, until you find a good place," Phoebe blurts out as she turns around and looks at Piper, "Right Piper?"

Piper gave Phoebe a glare as if saying, 'What do you think you're doing?' "I think we should ask Prue first," Piper said as she leaned closer to Phoebe, "Things can get a little weird around here sometimes…remember! A little something about our STRANGE VISITORS!" Piper whispered to Phoebe.

"Oh hey, I don't want to be a bother," Rachel said.

"Bother? What could possibly go wrong? Stay at least for tonight. You can have Prue's room. She's not using it!" Phoebe said grinning from ear to ear.

Piper gives in; knowing Phoebe and Rachel are close friends. "Well, she is also Prue and my friend, too," Piper thought as she looked at Rachel and smiled. "Please. At least spend the night. Prue won't be back until the day after tomorrow," Piper said looking a little worried as she can get.

"Great! Stay two nights. Prue will want to see you, too. After that, you can share my room. If you stay with us, you will be able to afford to pay for the damage to the car," Phoebe concluded.

Piper turns to Phoebe with a shocked look. "She has no insurance?" Piper tries to put a fake smile on her face, although Phoebe could tell she was a little peeved.

"Oh, no Piper. I just do not want it charged on my insurance, or my insurance premiums will go higher. Then I will not be able to afford it. I had a bad accident last year. But don't worry, I can pay you," she pauses, "I just don't want anything to come between us," Rachel said.

"Nor would I," Piper said smiling through her glare at Phoebe.

* * *

That night after dinner, Rachel finally settled in when Phoebe walked in their bedroom as she saw Rachel sitting on top of the bed reading.

"Hey, what are you reading?" Phoebe asked.

"Well, it's some pamphlets from the college. I'm trying to find some courses to take besides what I need to get my Master's Degree," Rachel told her.

"What interests you?" Phoebe asked.

"I really don't know; it's so hard these days to get into anything without it having to do with a career. I just want something fun to do," Rachel said with a sigh.

"Do you like sports, or maybe taking a drama class, things like that?" Phoebe asked.

"I love to swim. I like to go bowling. I do not think I would want to take a drama class. That would mean I would have to learn about Shakespeare and remember all those wherefore art thou's and junk. I don't think I could get into that," Rachel said chuckling.

Just then, Piper walks in, "Hey does anyone want a hot fudge sundae?" Piper asked.

"Oooh that sounds really good. I haven't had one in a long time," Rachel said.

"Okay, I'll bring them up," Piper said.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Piper comes back in the room with huge hot fudge sundaes and sets them down on the table next to the bed. "Piper? How in the world are we going to finish those? Those are humongous," Phoebe asks, "We will get brain freeze."

"Well, instead we can do this…" Suddenly Piper picks up a pillow and hits Phoebe with it.

"Oh yeah!" Phoebe picks up another pillow and hits Piper. Then Rachel picks up a pillow and hits both Piper and Phoebe. Piper and Phoebe look at each other, then at Rachel, and then they both hit Rachel as an all-out pillow fight starts. Soon feathers began flying out of the pillows and the whole room is filled with feathers as they all stop and look at each other and roll on the bed laughing hysterically uncontrollably. They all finished their ice cream then headed to bed.

"Goodnight you guys. I've forgotten what it's like to have sisters," Rachel said smiling.

"Yes. Me, too." Phoebe says as she looks at Piper and smirks.

"Hey!" Piper says as she gives Phoebe a sisterly slap, "I love you, too, sis."

Phoebe gives Piper a funny look as Piper laughs, which makes Rachel laugh as well.


	4. Chapter 2: Prue Returns Home

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Prue Returns Home**

* * *

Luckily, nothing supernatural happened the following night. The second day about three in the morning, Prue walks in the front door. Prue noticed the lights were on in the kitchen thinking it was Phoebe as she is always hungry now, and yells toward the kitchen, "Hello! Hey Pheebs, I am back. Boy, am I tired. I left early this morning so I could get an early start this afternoon on that wedding layout and…" Prue thought she was talking to Phoebe as she stuck her head into the kitchen, "…Rachel?" Prue said, initially taken aback.

"Hi, Prue. Hey, long time no see, huh? You're looking good," Rachel said.

"You, too. Are you visiting from out of town?" Prue asked putting her bags down.

"She's spending a few days with us. She just got into town, and we ran into each other in the college parking lot," Phoebe said as she came down the stairs.

"That's nice," Prue said hugging Rachel.

"Well! We bumped into each other - literally! I was driving your car at the time!" Phoebe said as she winced back knowing she would get socked and yelled at.

"Like in collision...bumping into each other!" Prue said, raising her voice.

And obviously, neither was Phoebe," Prue turns around to Phoebe, "Pheebs, you said you were going to be careful!" Prue pauses and frowns a bit, "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yes. Just a little sore because of the seatbelt," Phoebe replies.

Prue turns back toward Rachel, "Are you okay?" Prue asked.

"Yes Prue, I am fine," Rachel answered.

"You are not mad, are you?" Phoebe asked.

Prue turns back toward Phoebe, stares at her, giving her 'the glare', and starts waving a finger in Phoebe's face, "PHOEBE!" Phoebe winces back as if ready to be yelled at by Prue. "Phoebe, you are grounded for a month. No TV for two weeks, and no boyfriends for a month," Prue tells her with a stern look trying not to smile.

Phoebe figures she is only kidding, but goes along with the joke, "Wait! No boyfriends!? Oh, come on, that's unfair, Prue," Phoebe said as she looks around, then grabs wooden spoon from the kitchen counter and hands it to Prue, "Couldn't you just give me a spankin' and get it over with?" she says in a little girls voice and leans over the counter. Prue is tempted, but tries to contain herself from laughing at Phoebe. She raises the wooden spoon, and gives her a whack on her rear-end, as Phoebe flinches. "OW Mommy! Prue? I did not think you would actually do it. I was only kiddin' around," Phoebe frowned as only Phoebe could. She rubbed her rear-end, still feeling the sting of the wooden spoon.

Prue chuckled and said, "Oh Phoebe, of course I am upset, but as long as you and Rachel weren't hurt. I'm relieved." Prue goes to grab Phoebe in a hug as she winces back with a confused look on her face. Prue gives her a hug as Rachel looks on, trying to control her laughing at the whole scene.

"Ah, that's good because I want to be able to sit down for a while," Phoebe chuckles still rubbing herself, "Prue? Why did you have to hit me anyway? I knew you were only kidding; I was only going along with it."

"Well, you probably deserved it anyway for something else that I didn't know about. So consider that your spankin' for whatever you did," Prue said laughing.

"Oh, good, because that wooden spoon sure hurts," Phoebe says frowning, "And please, no more lectures about my lack of responsibility and my carelessness," Phoebe tells her.

"Do you still want one? I think I know the drill," Prue pauses and looks at Phoebe, "Pheebs, it was an accident. And I still trust you."

"Has it always been like this? I mean fooling around, teasing each other?" Rachel asks.

"Not always, we do have our problems now and again, don't we Prue?" Phoebe asks.

"Oh boy, do we ever," Prue says knowing they are witches and that they vanquish demons, warlocks and monsters almost every week. "Phoebe? Would you mind helping me with my bags?"

"Sure," Phoebe answered picking up Prue's bags, "Gee, leaving Buckland's Auction House has so calmed you down. A year ago you would have lost it completely," Phoebe said.

'We weren't this close last year either,' Prue thought to herself and returned to the kitchen. "So, Rachel, what brings you back to sunny California?" Prue asked.

"I'm working on my Master's Degree. I want to teach Junior High Science somewhere here on the west coast. Also, my parents are still living out here," Rachel told her.

"You know you were almost a part of our family. Well, you were. I don't think that three days went by that you and Pheebs weren't studying together, or trying out a get-rich scheme, or cooking up one scheme or another," Prue said.

"Yes, we had some good times, didn't we?" Rachel said smiling.

"Yes, when we all got together, yes we did. I sure have missed that," Prue said.

"Would you like it too continue?" Phoebe asked as she bounded back downstairs and walked into the kitchen.

"Yes that would be nice. We must get together for dinner soon," Prue said.

"How about always? She needs a place to stay for a while, and she can share my room," Phoebe suggested.

"Ah Pheebs, will you walk upstairs with me so we can talk?" Prue asked. As Prue and Phoebe began walking upstairs Prue started whispering, "Pheebs with all the magical problems around here, we can't have a house guest!"

"Well, we can ask Leo to start knocking instead of orbing in, Phoebe suggested.

"Demons and warlocks do not knock. What if something happens to Rachel? I would never forgive myself. She is bound to figure out something is not right with us. The two were so tight, like two peas in a pod! How can you keep everything away from her?" Prue asked.

"Do I detect a bit of jealousy?" Phoebe asked smiling.

"No!" she said rolling her eyes. "I am fond of her, too, but I don't want Rachel turned into a toad!" Prue said.

"A toad? A toad Prue? Really? Geez, Prue. We are so far beyond your typical fairy tale witches," Phoebe laughed.

* * *

Suddenly, Rachel had walked up behind them just as they got to the top of the stairs and overheard the last part of their conversations. "What about witches?" Rachel asked.

Prue and Phoebe were startled. "Oooh!" they both said.

Phoebe chuckled and said, "Sometimes we act like witches. Sibling rivalry you know."

"Yes, we were like that too," Rachel said, as she put her arms around Prue and Phoebe.

"What's all the commotion out here?" Piper asked as she walked into the hallway rubbing her eyes, "I didn't get in until two this morning. I've only been a sleep for…" Piper looks at her watch, "Oh gee, only an hour. Come on you guys, go to bed." Piper notices Prue is home. "Oh, Prue! What a surprise! Good to see you, and goodnight. I'm heading back to bed." Piper hugs Prue.

"I am going to bed as well. I have an afternoon appointment at three o'clock," Rachel laughs as she turns to Prue. Prue turned back around to Rachel and said, "Make yourself at home Rachel."

"She's already at home. In your room, that is!" Phoebe said snickering. Phoebe quickly runs away before Prue has a chance to sock her in the arm, as she yells over her shoulder, "We really weren't expecting you back this soon."

Rachel laughs as she turns to Prue. "Go ahead Prue, go on to bed. I will come in quietly. I don't have any early classes tomorrow. Goodnight!" Rachel said.

"Ugh! Yeah, you traitor," Prue says as she chuckles and turns to Phoebe's door and opens it. "Phoebe?" she yells in the room. "So help me, if you kick me, I will kick back and you will find yourself sleeping on the floor."

"Gee Prue. Thanks a lot. I love you, too!" Phoebe answers back.

Prue sticks her head out the door and yells to everyone in the house, "Good morning and goodnight all!"

Phoebe brushes her teeth as Prue puts her nightshirt on. Phoebe finishes washing her face, and walks out into the bedroom to put her nightshirt on, and climbs into bed pulling the covers up. Prue walks into the bathroom and brushes her teeth and washes her face, then walks out as she turns the bathroom light off and climbs into bed next to Phoebe.

"Remember Phoebe, so help me, if you start kicking, out you go! You will end up sleeping on the floor," Prue tells her again.

"Okay, okay! You do not have to tell me twice. I'll try not to kick, but I can't promise you anything," Phoebe told her as she fluffed up her pillow.

Just then, they hear Piper yelling. "Goodnight Prue! Goodnight Phoebe! Goodnight Rachel!"

Then they hear Rachel from across the hallway. "Goodnight Piper! Goodnight Prue! Goodnight Phoebe!"

"Goodnight Piper! Goodnight Rach…" Phoebe yells as Prue cuts her off.

"Phoebe? We are not The Waltons here, now go to sleep!" Prue tells her giving her 'the glare'.

"All right, all right already!" Phoebe says. She pauses. "GOODNIGHT JOHN BOY!" Phoebe yelled as she snickered.

Prue gives Phoebe a smack on the shoulder as she lets out a loud laugh. Piper heard that remark, and she began laughing.

Pretty soon Rachel heard everyone laughing and she began chuckling to herself and said, "Oh brother, what did I get myself into, a constant slumber party?" She smiled at that comment.

* * *

Back in Phoebe's room, she is explaining to Prue. "Okay, okay. I am just saying goodnight to everyone. I am only being polite and friendly. Oh, I forgot something," Phoebe says as she gets up off the bed and kneels on the side of her bed. "Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to take, if I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. Amen."

"Pheebs? What in the world are you doing?" Prue asks.

"I'm just saying my prayers," Phoebe replies.

"Okay Phoebe. Now I know you are watching way too much TV, first we are on "The Waltons," now we are on "Little House On the Prairie, what next!" Prue says exhausted as she turns over on her side. Suddenly, Prue hears the television turn on and she quickly sits up. "Phoebe! Come on, turn the TV off and go to sleep," Prue tells her and tries to grab the remote unsuccessfully.

"Wait! I want to watch some television so I can fall asleep. Television can do that sometimes. It helps me," Phoebe says.

As Phoebe flicks through the channels, Prue turns over to try to sleep. Phoebe notices a show with some good-looking guys and drools over them as she continues to watch. She then notices an actress on the show and pokes Prue in the side to wake her up.

"Prue! Prue! Look Prue! Some actress has your face!" Phoebe shouts out.

Prue turns around and looks, "Oh my gosh, who is that, she looks just like me."

Phoebe quickly looks at her TV guide and checks the time and the channel. It shows it is just a rerun called "Beverly Hills, 90210," but she sees only two names - Jason Priestley and Shannon Doherty. "I think her name is Shannon Doherty," Phoebe tells her.

"Isn't she the one I keep hearing about and reading about in those tabloid magazines about how she is such a troublemaker and a witch?" Prue asks.

"No, I think the word you're looking for starts with the letter 'B' not a 'W', but, the only witch I know is you, Prue," Phoebe lets out a big loud yawn. "Okay, we've said enough, let's go to sleep!" Phoebe says as she turns the TV off, "Goodnight Prue."

"Oh no, let's not start that again," Prue says as she tickles Phoebe as she jerks and laughs. Suddenly, they're both tickling each other and pouncing on each other as if they were in a wrestling match, when they both fall off the bed.

Piper hears a thud, and quickly gets out of bed, and walks into Phoebe's room. "Hey, what's going on in here? What is this? Who do you think you guys are anyway, Hulk Hogan?" Piper yells, "Hey come you guys, knock it off! Do you realize what time it is?"

Prue and Phoebe stop and look over at the clock and both turn to Piper and say together, "2:15 AM?: Phoebe looks at Prue, as Prue looks at Phoebe, then they both look at Piper.

"Oh no. Oh no you don't," Piper says as she starts for the door.

Prue and Phoebe grab Piper, throws her on the bed, and start tickling her to death as she screams and laughs, when Rachel walks in and wonders what is going on. She laughs, turns and walks out shutting the door leaving them to bond with one another. "Sisters! Got to love them!" Rachel says to herself.


	5. Chapter 3: Piper's Discovery

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Piper's Discovery**

* * *

A couple of days went by, and the newest addition to Halliwell Manor blended in well. Nothing magical or mysterious has happened so it gave everybody a chance to get reacquainted and become the sisters the four of them used to be. Phoebe, Prue and Rachel would talk long into the night, as Piper would join in when she got home. These bull sessions were fun, but hard on everyone except Piper who did not have to report to P3 until noon and could sleep late. One afternoon, Piper got up and found Rachel slumped over the kitchen table.

"Hey, Rach? Are you okay? You don't look so good," Piper said.

"Oh," Rachel says as she yawns, "Hi Piper. Up so soon?" Rachel asked.

"It's 12:30 in the afternoon. How long have you been down here?" Piper asked.

"Oh, wow," she says as she yawns again, "Is it that late. I have to get to class. Thanks for the wake-up call, Piper. My class starts in about thirty minutes!" Rachel exclaimed.

"Can I fix you some lunch to take with you?" Piper asked.

"Sure, just throw together a salad, just some lettuce and celery will be fine. Could you also fill my jug with water?" Rachel asked as she headed upstairs.

'Greens and water? What is she a rabbit?' Piper thought as she did what Rachel asked.

Early in the morning Piper finally got home, she found Rachel asleep again with about a million books and papers spread all over the place, around the living room couch and on Rachel. Piper moved some books and papers and sat next to her on the couch. "Hey Rach," she whispers as she moves some hair from her face. "Why don't you go upstairs and go to bed. It is way past two in the morning," Piper said.

Rachel groggily woke up. "Huh? Oh. Hi Piper. I was just studying; I must have dozed off. Phoebe had a date with Owen, and Prue had a date with Bane tonight. They must already be home. Thanks for the wake-up call, again," she said as she dragged herself up to bed.

"That makes two wake-up calls," Piper yelled up the stairs, "I hope it's not going to become a habit," she whispers under her breath, "Goodnight, Rach."

* * *

The following morning after Rachel had left for class, Piper was surfing the internet when Phoebe came bounding in on her way to class. "So how is your stock portfolio doing? My little Bill Gates of the nightclub set." Phoebe asked.

"Ha! Ha! He makes more money in ten seconds than P3 pulls in a year. No, I am looking through some medical files and disease databases. I am a little worried about Rach. She's been sleeping a lot and has really strange eating habits," Piper said.

"Rachel? No way, that is impossible. She is strong as an ox. I've never known her to have a sick day in her life," Phoebe said.

"That was about a dozen years ago, Pheebs. She has been sleeping a lot, she is always thirsty, and she has been eating a lot of greens. It sounds weird, I know, but I think there's something wrong, and she just doesn't know it," Piper said.

"Maybe she just needs the sleep; after all she does stay up at all hours to study. She also could be a vegetarian," suggested Phoebe.

Piper continues scrolling down the web site. "I hope your right Pheebs, but just in case..." She suddenly notices something and stops scrolling. "Whoa! Look at this!" Piper said.

"What! What is it, Piper?" Phoebe asked anxiously.

"A form of a sleeping sickness that is carried by the African Bottle Beetle. As well as the constant sleeping, the victim is constantly thirsty as well as having an unsalable appetite for green vegetables. If not treated, the patient could slowly drop into a coma which is followed by death," Piper finishes, as she swallows hard, "Um Pheebs, this is not good."

Phoebe continues to read the article. "Piper, it also says that no cases have been reported outside central Africa since 1923." Phoebe looks over at Piper. "Rachel has not left the United States, not that I know of. I don't see how she could get infected."

"Hey! I did not leave the United States when I got sick, and I nearly died, too! We have to talk to her tonight, Phoebe. If we can just catch Rachel awake, that is!" Piper exclaimed.

* * *

That night Piper and Phoebe were not able to get home. They had to work late at P3 and Prue had a date with Bane. Around midnight, Prue strolls in the door smiling after her date with Bane. They went dancing at the great new club. Not as good as P3, but just as fun.

Prue dances and hums to the music that is still in her head when she stops short and sees Rachel walking around the living room. "Hey Rach. What are you still doing up?" Prue asked cheerfully. Rachel did not respond, and she kept walking. "Rach? Hey! What's going on?" Prue asks again as she walks up in front of her. 'Oh no, she is sleepwalking!' Prue thought to herself. 'This could be very dangerous, especially when we have so many stairs in the manor.'

Rachel crossed through the dining room and headed for the kitchen and to the back door. "Oooh! No, no!" Prue squealed as she waved her hand to turn her back around. 'That was too close,' thought Prue as Rachel started heading toward the basement door. "Rachel..." Prue started to say as she caught herself and covered her mouth to not wake her. 'Oops, no. I should not try to wake her, that's even more dangerous,' Prue thought.

Then she turned her once more, and kept guiding her toward the stairs. "Come on, you can do it," Prue encouraged Rachel. Prue noticed she was headed straight for two chairs and the coffee table. They needed to be moved out of her way, so she waved them all to the side.

Rachel slowly walked up the stairs and went back to her bedroom. Prue carefully and quietly put her back into bed so as not to wake her or Phoebe up. 'This is NOT going to work out. Rachel needs a nice safe one floor house,' Prue thought.

* * *

On another astral plane, Ratus watched and waited. He had the power to enter and control others, and he wanted the Charmed Ones dead to steal their powers. Using Rachel whom the Charmed Ones cared about was just his ticket.

* * *

The following afternoon, Rachel was driving back home to the manor from class. She had not been doing so well since she was falling asleep in class. Half of a lecture would not get her through her graduate classes.

Rachel was driving up to a stoplight when she looked up and stared at a billboard sign that said: "Traveling to Exotic Places." She sighed as a strange odor came out from the air conditioning duct and smoke slithered out that could not be seen by the naked eye. It slowly entered Rachel through her nose. She did not react at first, then for a moment, she stiffened, breathed hard twice and closed her eyes for a second, then opened them showing her eyes glowing a bright red color, then went back to normal.

"To breathe the breath of life," Rachel said as she chuckled wickedly. The stoplight had changed green, as a car behind her honked. She sneered into her rearview mirror as she put the car in gear and headed for the manor.

That first day, Ratus, who had possessed Rachel was quiet and watched how the Halliwells interacted with her. The body he was possessing was not well, and he had to use all his strength to keep awake. He knew Piper especially was worried about Rachel. Therefore, he figured this could be used to his advantage.

It was all quiet at 1 AM, and everyone was fast asleep. And, when Ratus knew Rachel was sound asleep, he knew his control was minimal as Rachel began to dream. She had nightmares about a Demon and the horrible things that the Demon had done. People were being killed and maimed, lives were being ruined, women were being raped, people were committing suicide, and other acts so unspeakable that she woke up screaming at the top of her lungs.

"AAAH! PHOEBE! PRUE! PIPER!" she shouted out. Beads of sweat was shown on her forehead and chest, as she began to hyperventilate, and cried out in sheer terror.

Phoebe was suddenly jarred from her sleep. She sat up and looked over at Rachel as she saw the terror in her eyes, and quickly got out of bed and sat next to Rachel trying to calm her down. Rachel was sweating profusely from her face and neck. These night terrors were bad, but Rachel could not remember them at all.

"Shhh. Hey, it is okay now, you are awake, now," Phoebe said as she tried to comfort her.

Just then, Piper and Prue came barreling into the room. "Hey, we heard screaming, is everybody all right? I was ready to freeze someone," Piper said.

"Yeah, and I was going to send them flying through the window," Prue said trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

"Guys! Hey, watch what you say. Ix-nay on the powers-ay," Phoebe whispered, reminding them, "It's all right guys. She just had a bad nightmare. It is okay, I can handle it. I will take care of her. Go back to bed."

Piper and Prue went over to Rachel and gave her a hug. "Hey. You are okay now, there is nothing to be frightened about anymore. You are safe, and we love you," Prue told her.

"Thanks guys, I love you, too," Rachel answered back, with tears falling down her face, as she wipes them off her cheeks.

Piper and Prue left as Phoebe got up and went to the bathroom and dampened a washcloth with cold water. She poured a glass of water and walked back to Rachel who had already laid back down. Phoebe gently patted the washcloth on her forehead, and she moved some hair away from her face. "Okay, just take slow deep breaths. Here, sweetie, drink this," Phoebe said handing her the glass of water, "Take it easy now, you're okay."

Rachel began drinking the water when Phoebe noticed how badly her hand was shaking. Phoebe placed both of her hands around Rachel's hands so she would not drop the glass.

"This is very weird. I usually remember my dreams when I wake up. Don't you remember anything?" Phoebe asked.

"Just general feelings and sensations. Just the feeling of sheer terror. Terror as though I've never known before," she said shaking as Phoebe put her arms around her and gave her a hug.

"Try to go back to sleep now. Morning will be here soon," Phoebe said as she placed her hand on her cheek and smiled.

"That can't be soon enough for me!" Rachel said pulling the covers tightly around her.

* * *

Early the next morning, the aroma of waffles filled the house as the Demon possessed Rachel came down to the kitchen and found Piper making breakfast. Piper's humming as she makes her famous apple-cinnamon waffles. Rachel, the Demon, picks up a cup of coffee, sits at the kitchen table and then slumps over the table pretending to fall asleep, and spills her coffee.

Piper hears the cup break and turns around. "Oh no! Not again! Wake up! Oh Rach, wake up!" Piper cried.

The Demon possessed Rachel looks up at Piper, her eyes were glowing red, and she began to pull the life's essence from Piper. Her life, her power, and her soul. Piper felt as though she were standing over a long deep hole and had the feeling as if she were teetering before falling in.

Piper blinked a bit and wondered why she felt so odd. "Hey! What happened?" she asked, forgetting for a moment, then realized, "Oh, yes. Are you awake? Are you okay?" Piper asked, still concerned.

"Yes. I think I will go upstairs and lie down," said the Demon possessed Rachel, as she walked passed Prue.

"Morning Rach," Prue said.

"Good morning, Prue," Rachel answered back as if sounding like a robot, and not even looking back at Prue.

Prue frowned and turned to watch Rachel walk stiffly up the stairs and looked as if saying, 'Ooookay, whatever' and turned and looked toward Piper. "Good morning Piper," Prue said. Piper did not answer. "Hey, Piper. Didn't you hear me?"

"Oh. Hey, sis. I just blacked out for a second. Rachel was just slumped over the table and had blacked out again," she said and paused to look like she didn't know what just happened, "I wasn't doing so hot myself, either," Piper told her.

"Well, how do you feel now?" Prue asked concerned.

"Fine, I guess. I hope," Piper told her. She turned back to the stove and flipped over some more waffles, "Would you like some waffles?" Piper asked.

"Sure, sounds good," Prue said as she sat down at the table and sipped her coffee.

Later, after Prue and Piper finished eating, Piper made some breakfast trays to take up to Rachel and Phoebe.

"Piper's Caterers at your service," she announced entering their bedroom. There, she found Rachel leaning over Phoebe in the same way she had done with her earlier. Her eyes were glowing red, and staring into Phoebe's eyes.

Piper's eyes widened as she dropped the trays of food. "WHOA!" Piper cried as she froze the entire room. She walked over to Phoebe's bed and called out to Phoebe, "Phoebe! Hey, Phoebe!"

Phoebe woke up startled from her sleep. "AAAH, Piper! What happened? Where did you come from? Wow! I had this weird dream that I was about to fall into a hole," Phoebe told her.

"That's strange. I had the same dream. Something weird is going on here," Piper told her.

Phoebe noticed Rachel standing over her frozen, "What...what is wrong with Rachel. Why is she standing over me like that," Phoebe wondered

Piper pointed towards Rachel with a little quiver in her voice and said, "Those are not Rachel's eyes! I think its Demon time!"

"Yes, but who and how? Keep on an eye on her, or him, or it. I'll go check The Book of Shadows!" Phoebe announced, as she raced up to the attic.

Several minutes later Prue walked in on Piper, and noticed Rachel was frozen. "Hey, why is Rachel playing swinging statues?" Prue asked.

"Oh, it seems as though Rachel has had a run-in with a Demon of some sort. Phoebe is up checking the..." Piper said as Phoebe interrupted.

"I think I got it. We need to de-possess a Demon, but we can't vanquish a Demon when it's inside a body, so we can at least take the hex off Rachel," Phoebe told her sisters, "I found a spell here in The Book of Shadows. The three of us have to recite it together."

"Rachel doesn't need are witchy problems right now. Okay, let's do it," Prue urged on her sisters.

"Demon that is residing is unwanted, so, out you go, we banish thee."

Rachel was still, and then she became relaxed. Suddenly, she collapsed back on the bed. Bright blue and white lights appeared over her as the Demon quickly left her body and went through the wall of the room.

Rachel sat up and shook her head. "What was I doing? I remember doing something bad and then thinking of some horrible things. I felt as though I wanted to kill you. Is that bad or what?" Rachel said with a terrified look on her face.

"No, it's okay. You were just having a bad dream. It has happened to me, too. The best thing to do is to move on and forget about. You never know what's deep down in that old subconscious mind of yours," Phoebe told her as she playfully knocked on her head to make a point, "And you have to get ready for class. And so do I."

"Yes, but why did I feel as though I were somebody else?" Rachel asked.

"Well, who do you feel like now?" Piper asked.

"Me, I guess," Rachel answered.

"Good, you're cured. Just keep being you, there is no one sweeter! Well, have to go. I've got a club to run," Piper said clapping her hands as she gave Rachel a kiss on the cheek, "Bye! Eww! You're sweaty, Rach."

Rachel wiped the sweat from her forehead and face as she sat there for a moment totally confused for what just happened. She decided to take a cold shower and get ready for class.

* * *

Out in the hallway, Prue turned to Piper and asked, "Piper? Who do you think you are, Dr. Joyce Brothers?"

"Well, IT'S a whole lot better than the TRUTH. And I even have problems with THAT at times. I'll see you later," Piper said kissing Prue, then Phoebe on the cheek.


	6. Chapter 4: Psychology 101

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Psychology 101**

* * *

The next night, Rachel wandered through the Manor as the moonlight shone in through the upstairs hall window. The air was damp and cool as her bare feet walked along the cold wooden floor. The clock struck 2 AM as she rounded the steps and her foot went for the first step.

Usually in her midnight excursions, her subconscious helped her safely get back into bed. Rachel never knew she was doing it walking around the Manor stalking a quiet house like a ghostly apparition.

As fate would not be on her side as her foot missed the step and she tumbled head over feet onto the first landing. Finally hitting her shoulder first, she came resting on the landing now unconscious due to a head injury. And there she lay without a sound breathing very erratically.

* * *

Shortly thereafter Piper came hopping in the front door humming something the band had been playing earlier that evening. Even though it had been a long night, she still got home by three and was determined not to be up before noon come hell, high water, demon or overzealous sisters. Her tired but cheerful mood vanished when she flipped on the lights and saw Rachel crumpled up on the first landing.

"Oh my god! Rachel! Rachel! Wake up sweetie. Have you been taking a midnight stroll again?" Rachel did not respond as Piper gently shook her. "Rachel, wake up! Wake up! Wake up this instant! Oh god, I knew something like this would happen. PRUE! PHOEBE! GET DOWN HERE NOW! Rachel, sweetie, its Piper. Wake up!" Piper said as she tried to sit her up.

"Hey, Piper what the..." She sees Rachel on the landing. "Rachel! PRUE! We need your help! PRUE!" Phoebe called out who was just yawning and rubbing her hair and then all of a sudden she starts taking charge. "Why won't she wake up?"

"No, I can't move her a single inch. She is completely out of it!" Piper exclaimed getting nervous.

"I'll call 911," Phoebe said finally standing up and then running for the phone as she passed Prue in the process.

"Hey, the police don't usually help with our demons," Prue said yawning as she came out of her room and scratching her head

"Get your butt down here Prue!" cried a stressed out Piper.

"Oh no! Not again!" Prue cried. "I'll put her on the couch." Prue said as she waved her hand as Rachel rose into the air and floated heading for the couch.

Piper covered her up as Prue got her a pillow. "There has to be something that we can do!" Piper remarked, bulging her eyes out at Prue.

"The paramedics are on the way!" Phoebe said as she pulled on some sweat pants as she came running down the stairs at the same time.

Prue turned around and saw Phoebe bounding down the stairs looking as if she were about to trip. "Hey, careful there sis. We don't want another sister ending up in the hospital now," Prue called out.

Phoebe went barreling through the foyer and out the front door of the Manor so she could wave the paramedics down. Prue and Piper stayed with Rachel as they kept watch of her.

* * *

Finally, after fifteen minutes of waiting the paramedics showed up as Phoebe showed them into the family room where Rachel lay motionless.

"Right in here guys, she's laying on the couch," Phoebe pointed out.

"What seems to be the problem here?" the first paramedic asked.

"Well, when I came home, which was around two in the morning, I turned the lights on and saw Rachel lying at the bottom stairs on her side," Piper explained to the paramedic.

The paramedics looked at each other and the second paramedic looked confused. "Excuse me for asking, but if she's on the couch and you found her at the bottom of the stairs how or why did you move her. Don't you know you should never move someone who has taken a fall?" he asked looking at Piper.

Piper glanced over to Prue and gave her a scrunched up nose look and did not know what to say when Prue suddenly cut into the conversation. "Well...we thought...we thought we could lift her because she fell on that rug over there," Prue pointed at the rug that had been moved accidentally when Phoebe came barreling down the stairs and out the Manor.

Both paramedics looked at each other and shook their heads. The first paramedic started an IV bag as he took a small odd triangular needle with a tube and took Rachel's hand and began looking for a vein at the top of her hand.

Piper quickly looked away knowing that she cannot stand the sight of blood. An oxygen mask was put over her nose and mouth as the paramedic turned on the oxygen as the tank makes a whizzing sound. Rachel begins to slowly breathe in and out along with the oxygen being pumped into her.

The second paramedic began taking her vital signs. He wrapped a blood pressure material around her arm and put the stethoscope around his neck. He then began pumping the blood pressure balloon as the material began to thicken, and he quickly put the stethoscope to her arm and took her blood pressure.

"BP is 180 over 60," he told the first paramedic. He then began taking her pulse as he looked at his watch. "Pulse is rapid, but weak," he told the first paramedic.

"Rachel! Can you hear me?" the second paramedic said trying to wake her up.

Rachel was not waking up and Prue, Phoebe and Piper were frantic with worry, as they watched the paramedics lift her to the gurney and put her in the back of the ambulance. Prue, Phoebe and Piper followed in Piper's jeep Cherokee.

* * *

When they finally got to the hospital, they saw the paramedics wheeling Rachel into the Emergency Room. They raced into the hospital and ran up watching as a doctor and several nurses as well as a couple of interns looking over her and quickly checking her stats. Prue, Piper and Phoebe anxiously await word on how their sister is. They all go into the waiting room, sit, and pray that Rachel will be all right.

A couple of hours later in a hospital room, Rachel woke up in a backless gown, receiving an IV drip as the beep, beep, and beep of the monitors could be heard behind her.

"Hey! Hi there?" Piper said stroking some hair away from her face, "How's our sister the little stunt woman?" Piper asked smiling as she took Rachel's hand into hers.

"Piper, what...ah..." Rachel stammered with a confused look as she stared at the tube in her arm and realized she could feel a chill up her back. She quickly closed the back of her gown and blushed knowing she had been stripped down to nothing. Piper chuckled a bit at the sight but helped Rachel with her bed sheets and pulled them up farther.

"Oh I forgot to tell you. You did a forward roll down the stairs late last night. Not the best way to start your career as a stunt woman. Next time open your eyes," Piper quipped.

"I...wha...I...fell down the stairs sleepwalking?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah you sure did," Piper said as she gently moved some hair from her face, "You have a mild concussion, but the doctors say you'll be fine. They just want to take some tests for a couple of days. The old noodle took quite a knock on those steps," Piper said stroking her hair. "We were all so worried about you."

"But...but...but I'm fine see," Rachel said as she quickly sat up, "I don't need to stay in the hospital. I hate hospitals!" she said as she turned herself around about to get out of bed as she tried to stand when she fell back down on the bed, "Whoa...Ooooooh...tell the room to stop spinning," Rachel said holding her head and closing her eyes for a second.

Piper caught her just in time before she could topple over as she put her arms around her to keep her from falling off the bed. "Hey! Hey! Just stay down then. Go back to sleep. Those painkillers really take a lot out of you. I know. Go on. One of us will be here. Sleep. Just sleep," Piper said soothingly.

Rachel laid back down as her eyes began to look heavier and heavier. "Yea, I think I'll...," she said quietly as she dropped off again.

'Woo. At least she has recovered from that head thingy. Sleep my little sis!' Piper thought.

Phoebe and Prue walked into the room. "Hey you! Is there any change?" Phoebe asked as she and Prue came up to Rachel's bedside.

Piper looked up at the sound of her sister's voice and smiled and replied, "She came out of it for a moment, but I don't think she remembers anything."

Phoebe blew a sigh of relief. "Whew! Thank goodness for that. Hey! You know, I have an idea of how we can help her," Phoebe said, "I have this spell for the Book and I thought..."

"Pheebs, we can't cure mortals. Remember when I had Aurora Fever? Remember how the old song goes, if witches could cure all no one would be sick," Piper said.

"So, I thought, if I could continue, we could try to heal her mind, all three us. Sleepwalking is a problem of the mind. While she is asleep we can enter in her dreams," Phoebe said.

"There shouldn't be any consequences from this spell. We just use it as a method or implant a subliminal thought to help her. We would be doing the helping. I hope!" Prue explained.

"Sounds more like coal mining than psychology. Phoebe, you invented a new career field. Anything to break her free of sleepwalking. Let's do it," Piper said.

They all stood around Rachel as they placed their hands on her body and began to recite:

"Morning, noon and dark of night,

Spirits we beseech to begin this flight,

Witch's spirits from our bodies flee,

Enter the dreams of thou that see."

From the real world perspective, each of the witches stood still like when Prue astral projects into another place. From their perspective, they were floating like apparitions using their own images in a gray world full of mist and fog and weird music playing in the background.

"So this is the real Rachel?" Piper asked. "Who would have thought it?"

"Just her own subconscious manifestations," Phoebe said.

"Thank you Sigmund Freud. All that from Psychology 101? Impressive," Prue said as they floated across the foggy dismal landscape.

"Rachel! Rachel!" Phoebe cried out. "We have to find her."

"Isn't she all around us? We're like electrical pulses along her neurons?" Prue asked squinting a bit, trying to find out exactly where they were.

"Hey, enough of this scientific talk. I am already getting a migraine from this little journey. Anybody have any Advil by any chance? Ah, never mind, we cannot stand around in Rachel's head for too long. Let us get on with it. Rachel!" Piper called out.

"RACHEL! RACHEL!" they cried out in unison.

While they floated along inside her head, a figure all decked out in a black leather pantsuit walked up to them all dressed to kill. It was an idealized version of Rachel. She walked up to them looking very unhappy with her arms crossed in front of her.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe could not believe this was Rachel, as they all looked at each other wide-eyed as they checked Rachel up and down in that outfit she was wearing. Piper looked over to Prue. She saw Prue smiling and could tell what she was thinking.

Piper quickly gave Prue a pinch in the shoulder to get her to wake up from her dreamland. Phoebe just stood there with her mouth open. "Phoebe, close your mouth before you let the flies in. Come on let us get on with this now. Let us just be calm and collected. This is for Rachel's sake remember guys?" Piper stated defiantly.

"And what do you three think you are doing here? This is my mind! GET OUT OF IT!" she huffed at them.

"Rachel we just want to help you. You see you have had a bad fall and..." Piper explained.

"Hey, don't you think I know that? You do know that this is my mind and my body!" anti-Rachel glares at all three of them and then stares a dagger into their eyes and hissed, "And since it's mine get lost!"

"Don't you want any help?" Phoebe asked looking motherly at her.

She looked away saying, "Any help that Rachel needs I can provide for her. I have for twenty-five years and will continue. Now get out of here!" anti-Rachel said trying to push them away.

Prue looked confused. "Excuse me? Aren't you our friend?"

"Yes and no. You are in her subconscious mind and that is me. She is only mine to take care of," anti-Rachel explained.

"I don't think that you're taking very good care of her. You know, concessions can be deadly," Phoebe said waving her hand at her.

"One mistake," anti-Rachel gawked.

"Uh, possibly a fatal one as well. All that sleepwalking can get her into a lot of trouble. That's what needs to stop," Piper said.

The anti-Rachel looked up and around and looked bored. "I need my space... I have to get out occasionally and I can only do it while her conscious is asleep. Why do you think I'm called the subconscious, geez?"

"You know, you're nothing like are sweet friend, our sister," Prue mused.

Rachel walked up close to Prue as close as she can get and got into her face. "NO! Where do you think all those other human emotions go, huh? Into the subconscious," she said knocking on Prue's head, "Now get out of my turf!" anti-Rachel hissed again.

"Rachel's so called friends have been out to get her for years!" the strange apparition said.

"That is not true! She had been my dearest friend since elementary school. I would never do anything to hurt her," Phoebe cried out.

"And neither would I," Prue said.

"Three votes for that," replied Piper.

"Right! Remember I know her every thought. Her every feeling," the anti-Rachel said.

"Not her true self!" Phoebe said.

"What do you really know about her?" the image of Rachel asked.

"I know enough, we were friends for…" Phoebe said interrupting.

"Friends? Ha! You have not even spoken with her in eight years. Where we're you then?" anti-Rachel asked.

"I admit we lost track of each other, but the friendship was still there," Phoebe replied.

"She went through several traumas in that time. All she wanted was her supposed best friend to talk to. The boyfriend who had battered her, the sicknesses she went through, the rape, the abortion. Where were you then? You only latched back on her because of guilt. That's all!" she hissed.

Phoebe's eyes widened, didn't know all that Rachel went through, and answered anti-Rachel. "Yes, she needed a hand, but that's what friends are for!" Phoebe said.

"And you let her fall down those stairs!" anti-Rachel continued.

"No, that was your fault," Phoebe jumped back on her as she got into her face pointing her finger at her, "Don't you dare put that on me!"

"But it was your house. Furthermore, what about your little magical secret? Friends do not have secrets. Especially if they could get killed because of it," said anti-Rachel.

"We haven't shared that with anyone. Others are safer not knowing," Piper replied.

"Like with Andy? Now Darryl knows too. Are they as safe?" anti-Rachel hissed.

"That's entirely different," Prue jumped in. "This secret is best kept as close as possible. Or we might end up in the sanitarium."

"Is it different? Mortals are mortals," the anti-Rachel said as she crossed her arms and slowly walked a circle around Prue, "SO Prue. Aren't you a little jealous of Rachel? That's your secret isn't it?!"

"Jealous? I don't know what you mean," Prue said acting confused.

"Back in high school. Phoebe was my best friend and you could not stand it. You did not like my being so close to her and to Piper," the anti-Rachel said.

Piper quickly jumped in. "Hey, listen here you...you, Miss...Subconscious you. You leave me out of this, do you understand!"

"I admit that at the time I had issues with Phoebe. We did not see eye to eye, but we've worked all of them out," Prue said looking over to Phoebe, "Right Pheebs?" Prue asked.

"Huh," Phoebe said sounding distracted.

"Right, PHEEBS?" Prue asked again.

"Ah, yea. You were really jealous of me?" Phoebe said cutely.

"Maybe a little. Nevertheless, that was then. We have to worry about Rachel now," Prue reminded.

"Jealous of me? That is a revelation. I always thought you hated me. Or at least didn't like me," Phoebe said.

"I think you mean that I didn't understand you and I would like to have been closer. Who wouldn't want to be closer to their littlest sister?" Prue said.

"Let's stay focused here. I'm in the MIDDLE again," Piper said.

"You never really liked Rachel either; little Miss United Nations! If you did you would have clued her in long ago," the anti-Rachel said.

"And what would I have said? Hi Rachel, we are off to save you from death and destruction?' That is not how we operate. There is a certain amount of safety in ignorance. Look how happy we were when we did not know we were witches!" Piper yelled out as she held her head in frustration.

"Piper, why are you defending us?" Prue asked.

"This thing here is the most arrogant and obnoxious thing we came up against yet," Piper replied. "She is really pissing me off."

"Let's get back on what we're supposed to be here for," Phoebe said.

Piper being the most panicky one of the family began to get angry as well as frightened for Rachel as she moved up closer to Rachel. "Now you listen you little bit of anti-Rachel. You had better stop your midnight sleepwalking or your host with all those sweet emotions you dislike so much will end up in a body bag. Then where will you be?" Piper asked with hostility.

Phoebe butted in and said, "This world will deep-six itself. And we'll still be around."

"Yeah, and we'll be standing around a grave," Piper said quietly.

Prue got a little huffy herself and got into anti-Rachel's face. "So do you get our drift? Let Rachel stay in that bed or you will be gone like last week's news," Prue said.

"NO WAY! I need my space!" hissed the anti-Rachel.

"All right sisters. Vanquishing time. Here me spirits and send them away..." Phoebe said.

"What are you doing?" asked the anti-Rachel.

"Eliminating you here and now. We want Rachel to live, so off you go," Phoebe smiled as she waved goodbye.

"Bye-bye! Forgotten! Erased from memory! So-to-speak," Piper said.

"NO WAIT! I will...I will stop it! No more sleepwalking! I'll just amuse myself in other ways," Rachel said as she smiled and thought of something.

"Good! And now we will leave," Prue said as she smiled and slapped her hands together as if shaking something off.

However, Rachel ignored them as she turned around and strutted off in the fog.

The sisters could see her meeting a man. They saw her as the man took her in his arms and kissed her as they laid down and disappeared into the fog.

Whooooosssh! The minds of Prue, Piper and Phoebe quickly zipped back into their own bodies as they suddenly awoke with a start.

"Whoa! That was mind boggling to say the least," Piper quipped.

Prue was not quite as affected since she was used to astral projecting herself. Phoebe plunked down hard on the chair as she sat on something very sharp and quickly jumped up with a start and rubbed her backside. "OUCH! What the heck was that?" Phoebe looked down and noticed she sat on a tray of syringes with medicine in them. She then began fanning herself as if she was hot.

Prue and Piper looked at each other and chuckled as they looked over and noticed Rachel just lying there asleep as they left her. They all walked out of the room as Phoebe continued to rub her backside and looked back one more time at Rachel, then smiled as much as she could. She then turned around and quickly ran between her sisters and put her arms around them as they walked down the hall talking.

"So what was all that Book of Shadows stuff in there? We cannot vanquish subconscious!" Prue said looking confused.

"No, but they seem gullible enough to be bluffed. Moreover, she or it found another herself another diversion," Phoebe said smiling a she began to get a little dizzy.

"Not bad. The Psycho 101 did help you out. Pretty cool Norman Bates!" Piper said still recovering.

"Thanks," Phoebe said.

"I don't think I ever got anything out of my Psych class," Prue thought aloud.

Phoebe looked at her sister somewhat in outer space, "You're just too deep and have too much pent up inside of you, Prue dear. You want Piper and me to work on your subconscious. Huh? Do you?" Phoebe said looking like a little girl at play.

Prue noticed Phoebe looking a little spaced out and giggled knowing Phoebe does not know what is happening. "No, thank you. I am happy with me as I am. I don't need my little sister Phoebe playing around in my head," Prue said waving her off.

"You know I've always wondered what Prue's subconscious would be like? Too deep for thought now, I still have my migraine," Piper says holding her head, "I just hope Rachel is cured now," Piper sighed.

Prue and Piper look at Phoebe then look at each other and notices that Phoebe is about to lose it, so they prepare and hold out their arms ready for her. Phoebe begins to topple a little as words come out of her mouth not sounding right. "And if you...isn't we know...go back. Sleep well Rachel...only will tell time!" Phoebe mused as she suddenly passed out in Prue and Piper's arms.

Prue and Phoebe looked at each other and laughed at Phoebe. They both carried Phoebe to the car and went back to the Manor. Another day had finished as they put Phoebe to bed and went to bed themselves.

* * *

The following morning Piper was already downstairs in the kitchen making breakfast as Phoebe slowly walked in still in her pajamas and scratching her head.

"Hey Pheebs, good morning. How did you sleep last night?" Piper asked chuckling.

"Well, I'm not sure; I don't even remember coming home last night. What happened?" Phoebe asked yawning and scratching her head.

"Let's just say you had a long night at the hospital," Piper answered as she went back to scrambling eggs, "Sit down and I'll make you some breakfast."

"Okay," Phoebe said as she begins to sit down, "All have some pancakes and...OUCH! What the heck was that?" Phoebe yells as she quickly stood back up and rubs herself and looks on the chair.

Piper tries to hide a laugh, but cannot resist it.

"Okay, what's going on here? It just felt like I got stuck with a pin or a needle or something," Phoebe says looking at Piper with an evil eye.

"Don't look at me, I haven't done anything," Piper answers.

"Did you cast a spell or something, and ended up backfiring?" Phoebe asked.

Just then, Prue walks in all dressed and ready for work as she walks to the cupboard and grabs a mug and walks to the coffee machine. She pours herself some coffee, then sits down, and opens the morning newspaper.

"Well good morning to you to," Piper says, "You sure are a ray of sunshine this morning, aren't we?" Piper quips.

"I'm not in the mood today, guys," Prue says, "I have to go work now, I'm already late."

Prue left and Piper and Phoebe were a little stunned to say the least, something was up and they did not what was bothering her. They both looked at each other and shrugged.

* * *

Two days later, Rachel was able to come home and everything went on as normal as possible for the Halliwell sisters...until one afternoon Rachel was on campus running around trying to get things done between classes.


	7. Chapter 5: A New Love For Rachel

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**A New Love For Rachel**

* * *

Later that day on campus, Rachel is running behind between classes. As she rushes out of the science lab, she backs out with books and papers in her arms, when a cloud of mist forms into a figure behind her. She bumps into him hard as everything in her hands flew to the ground.

"Ow! Oh, excuse me! I need to watch...uh...where..." Rachel stammered as she quickly knelt down and began picking everything up.

The man quickly kneeled down to help pick them up. As she scrambled to pick up the books, he handed her some of the papers as they touched each other's hands. She looked up and saw the most gorgeous man that she had ever laid eyes on in her whole life. He smiled warmly at her and was taken in by her smile as he helped her back to her feet.

She could not help blushing as she could feel herself weaken at the knees as if ready to faint. When she looked at his piercing blue eyes and that great smile, she felt hot tingles all over her body. She had not felt that feeling in a long time. The only time she had ever felt that was back in high school with her old boyfriend Steve.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, it was my entire fault! Hello, my name is Mark Johnson. And you are?" he inquired.

"Uh. Uh...um..." she stuttered as she could not breathe let alone think of what her name was. Then she finally answered after letting out a breath, "Rachel," she said as she continued to stare at him, "Are you a student here?" she asked.

"No, I'm not. I am a writer for '415' magazine. How about you?" Mark asked.

"Yes, I'm a student here. I transferred here to get my Master's degree. I am studying to become a science teacher. You must know...uh...my 'sister'...Prue Halliwell?" Rachel said as she paused and thought 'It felt good saying that.'

"Well, I don't really know her, but I know of her. I hear she's really a good photographer," Mark said to her.

"Yeah, that's Prue. She works hard at being good," Rachel said as she could not take her eyes of Mark. "Would you like to go and get some coffee with me and we can talk for a while? I don't have a class for another thirty minutes?" Rachel asked, not once looking away from his handsome face.

"Yes that would be nice. Here, let me help you with that," Mark said as he continued smiling at Rachel and he lifted the books from her arms and they headed to the college coffee house.

Rachel was not just taken in; she fell instantly head-over heels in love. It was as if it were fate that they were brought together. They saw each other constantly over the next month. Things were working out so well at the Manor that she took up permanent residence with the Halliwells. They were happy for her, but to Piper he seemed just too perfect, and she should know. She thought the same thing with Jeremy, and look, what he turned out to be…a warlock.

* * *

A few weeks later after wining, dining, and whisking Rachel off her feet, Mark wanted to be alone with Rachel. Then, one night, Rachel decided it was a perfect time to bring Mark home to the Manor for some romantic time together. Nobody was at home-Piper was at the club, Prue was off on a photo shoot and Phoebe had a date with Owen.

Rachel looked around the Manor, then back at Mark and said, "We're all alone Mark." Rachel looked up at Mark and put her arms around him and kissed him so passionately as Mark really began enjoying her kisses.

They briefly break away from the kiss when he looks deep into her eyes and says, "This is VERY good," Mark teasingly gets close to her lips and gives her an air kiss and smiles, "It's nice of your 'sisters' to be away."

Mark again teasingly gets closer as he licks his lips and nuzzles her neck and works his way up to her earlobes and nibbles them. Then he kisses her cheek ever so gently and softly.

Rachel shudders as the intensity grows as she feels tingles throughout her entire body when he slyly and suddenly kisses her hard and passionately on her lips. In that intense moment, he picks her up in his big strong arms and slowly walks upstairs to her room as they continue to kiss.

Mark enters her bedroom and gently puts her down on the edge of the bed and looks down at her and gazes into her big blue eyes and gently takes her face in his hands and says, "You are so beautiful and sexy. I could easily fall in love with you, and I think I have." He brushed her blonde hair back away from her neck, leaned in, and kissed her on the neck. He moved onto the bed and motioned for her to lie next to him. She was a little hesitant first, but she could not take her eyes off him. She sat down next to him and put her head on his chest as he put his arm around her shoulder and softly began stroking her hair. She turned her head toward his handsome face as he leaned in and gently kissed her on her lips.

Shivers of heat ran through her body as he worked his way to her shoulders. He kissed her cheek, then gently traced her lips with his finger, and said, "You have the most beautiful, soft, luscious lips." He gently kissed her neck and worked his way up to her lips again.

Mark then slowly moved down toward the end of the bed and began taking her shoes off slowly as he looked into her eyes smiling. Then he slowly removed her socks as he slid is hands up her legs as Rachel shivered at the intensity of his hands caressing her. He moved his hands up the sides of her jeans to her hips and gently laid on top of her and began to kiss her on the lips as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rolled on his back with her on top of him. Rachel began to moan in pleasure as she rolled her head back and he continued to nuzzle her neck. His whiskers tickled her as she laughed a little and moved to kiss him, but then she stopped and in that passionate moment, she knew she wanted him, but in her heart, she knew it was not right. She wanted to wait for this moment of pleasure until she was married.

"Well I positively have fallen for you," Rachel said as Mark was about to open her blouse, "But I don't want this to go any farther than what we're doing now. Just holding each other and kissing each other like this is all I want to do. This feels so good right now, but please, no further than this."

"Anything you say my Princess," Mark said trying to catch his breath.

They got so caught up in the moment when Mark pulls her back over to him just as the door swings open and Phoebe begins talking to herself not knowing they were in the room, "Oh, that Owen is so romantic and darn right gorgeous...Whoa...Oops!" Phoebe shades her eyes and continues stammering, "Oh, I'm so sorry...Ohhh, I'm so sorry!"

"Oh! Uh! Hi Pheebs. We were just...," stammered Rachel.

With her hand still covering her eyes she says, "Hey, no sweat. The last thing I want to do is interrupt! Carry on...carry on! I should...uh go now. Bye!" Phoebe says trying to get out the door with her hand over her eyes as she bangs her nose into the door trying to get out, "OW! Oooh!"

Rachel chuckled and said, "You okay, Pheebs?"

"Uh, yeah. It is okay, no broken bones. I am okay. Do not worry, I am leaving. Go about your business...or should I say...pleasure," Phoebe says with her hand still over her eyes as she finally closes the door behind her.

As she stands in the hallway, she leans on the door and thinks to herself, 'Oye...I should have knocked. I think we need to put something on the door if we're with someone to avoid these interruptions.' So she walks back down the stairs and decides to catch up on some reading, still feeling somewhat embarrassed about walking in on Rachel and Mark.

After a few minutes go by, Mark begins feeling a little awkward and pushes himself off the bed. "Well, I think I better leave. I mean since there's someone home now," he said, sounding a little disappointed himself. He looks down at Rachel and sees her expression of disappointment as well.

With a frown on her face, she crawls off the bed. Mark sees the frown and kisses her on the lips gently to try to turn the frown into a smile. He succeeds as she wraps her arms around him tightly.

"If you must. But, everything I said earlier was true," Rachel said to Mark.

"As did I. Say, how about a romantic dinner, tomorrow in Sausalito. We can take a nice romantic drive to this little romantic restaurant I know about. We can watch the ocean waves while we are eating. How about six?" Mark asked.

"Great!" Rachel exclaimed, as she jumped up on the bed and wrapped her arms around him once again and she kissed him playfully.

As they walk down to the foyer, they notice Phoebe reading in the living room. Phoebe watches them as they walk to the front door. She gets up and walks over to them. "Hey Mark, you don't have to go because of my little interruption!" Phoebe says as she places a hand on Mark's shoulder, and is suddenly thrown into a premonition: She sees Mark intimately involved with a woman who is NOT Rachel. She comes back to focus and looks up at him with disgust.

"Pheebs, are you okay? You don't look too good," Rachel asks, looking concerned.

"Oh no, I'm fine. I must have stood up too quickly," Phoebe answered almost choking for air.

Rachel walks Mark to the front door arm in arm as she looks up at him with a dreamy look in her eyes and says, "Goodnight, my little teddy bear."

"Goodnight, my Princess, till we meet again," Mark replies and grabs her passionately and pretends to waltz with her as he dips her and gives her a long deep passionate kiss.

Phoebe stares at Mark. "Yeah, goodnight," Phoebe says under her breath with a glare on her face watching him carefully.

Mark then gives her a kiss on the cheek, starts to leave when he turns around, and gives Rachel a smack on her rear-end as he walks out the door. "Ow! Hey you!" she says giving him a goofy glare back as he smiles and winks at her.

Phoebe watches every move that Mark makes with Rachel as she squints a glare at him wondering what he is all about. Phoebe watches as Rachel closes the front door. She looks as though she is floating on air. With a smile on her face, she walks into the living room where Phoebe is and falls back on the couch next to her.

"Oh, Pheebs. This HAS to be a dream. Someone pinch me if I am dreaming. This has to be the man of my dreams! He's so terrific and so gorgeous." Rachel tells her.

Phoebe pinches her arm. "OW! Hey Phoebe! I didn't mean literally," Rachel laughs as Phoebe does as well. Rachel rubs her arm and puts her head down on Phoebe's lap.

"Don't go too fast, sweetie," Phoebe says as she brushes aside some hair that has fallen in her face, "I would be very careful."

"Uh huh," Rachel said dreamily as she gets up off the couch and heads slowly upstairs as if dancing the waltz with Mark and heads to her bedroom.

* * *

The following night, Mark drove her to Sausalito and had a romantic dinner at Ondine's Restaurant on the pier overlooking the ocean. After dinner, Mark put his arm around her and held her close as they looked up at the stars and watched the ocean as the waves crashed up onto the beach. "Hey, you want to take a romantic walk on the beach?" Mark asked as he kissed her on the cheek and nuzzled her neck.

Rachel giggled as his whiskers tickled her. "Sure, sounds romantic, Mark," Rachel replied.

As they walked off the pier, Mark stopped the flower girl and bought her a red rose. "For you my Princess," he said as he gently touched the rose to her cheek and down her neck.

Rachel put her head on Mark's shoulder as they walked onto the beach arm in arm when Mark suddenly began to tickle her as she ran off and began chasing her down the beach. Finally, when Mark caught up with her they both fell down on the beach together and began kissing each other intensely. As the kissing got more passionate, all of a sudden a wave of water hit them as Rachel screamed with delight and was about to get up when Mark pulled her back down and continued kissing. Later, they had finished their romantic night with a drive up the coast.

* * *

For the next month, Mark took Rachel to concerts in the park, dancing and some romantic weekends away from San Francisco. Mark found a cozy little place called Highland Springs Resort up in Costa Mesa where they played tennis, went swimming, and jogged together. The last night together they sat by the fire and talked through the night.


	8. Chapter 6: One Big Earthquake!

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**One Big Earthquake!**

* * *

The following morning, just north of San Francisco in Marin County, Bud Regent and his wife were getting ready for the 2 AM milking on their family dairy farm when he walks into his 100-year-old barn and hangs a lantern on an ancient hook on the wall. Next to him is his faithful dog Daniel. As Bud starts to assemble his equipment Daniel and the cows begin to get nervous and begin to make all kinds of noises.

"Whoa, boy! What is it? A coyote? Why are the cows so spooked?" Bud said to himself. Suddenly, the shadows begin to shift as the lantern begins to swing back and forth. "OH NO!" Bud shouted.

Bud rushes outside the barn. The ground begins to shake fiercely as if a subway car were running underneath the ground. He looks to the north as the shaking gets worse and worse and sees a line of the earth splitting and heading south at the speed of an express train.

"EARTHQUAKE!" he yells toward his wife who is outside doing chores. Bud is quickly knocked to the ground as the split in the earth misses him by yards.

The path of the quake heads south through Napa Valley to Mill Valley. Across the Bay, and in the heart of the residential area of San Francisco. The towers of the great bridges did not sway to the observers from the ground, but any cars that are on the bridges had lost control on the vibrating sections and began crashing into one another.

* * *

Meanwhile, on the second floor of Halliwell Manor, Rachel was up to her frequent sleepwalking tricks. This time she included terrifying shrieks of shouting and yelling with her midnight strolls. The nightmares were brought on by the Demon within her, which had increased in frequency and on different levels of terror. Phoebe noticed Rachel getting out of her bed and got up to follow her. Prue woke up suddenly at the sound of Rachel shouting. Piper was in so deep of a sleep at first she thought there was just a Demon in the house. She walked out of her bedroom shouting just as much as Rachel was.

"OKAY! Rachel, these excursions will have to…no, they have to stop! I REALLY need my beauty sleep!" Piper yelled out with an exhausting angry tone in her voice.

Phoebe quickly tries to quiet Piper down. "Piper, Shhh! She is sleepwalking again, do not wake her, it is too dangerous! Don't worry; I'll put her to bed!" Phoebe whispers to Piper.

"Okay, okay. I'm going back to bed now," Piper whispers back to Phoebe.

Piper gently turns around and heads back to her room as Prue comes walking out and helps Phoebe guide Rachel back to bed.

"Here, let me help you," Prue said taking Rachel's left arm.

"Thanks. I cannot believe this is happening again. She really needs to see a specialist or something to get to stop sleepwalking. This is just too dangerous," Phoebe said, as she carefully placed her hands on her right arm, then is immediately is thrown into another premonition. Prue notices Phoebe's wide-eyed expression.

"What? What happened?" Prue asked.

In a terrified voice, Phoebe said in a loud whisper, "EARTHQUAKE! A BIG ONE! A REALLY, REALLY BIG ONE!"

"OH NO! PIPER!" Prue yelled, "GET OUTSIDE, QUICK! THERE'S A BIG ONE COMING!" Prue cried.

"I sure hope it's the sandman!" Piper replied, still angry as she groggily walked back into the hallway again, not knowing what is going on.

"NO, IT'S NOT THE SANDMAN PIPER! IT'S AN EARTHQUAKE!" Prue cried.

Hearing this Piper totally flipped out. "AAAAHHH!" Piper screamed, now fully awake, as was everybody else, and running down the stairs.

Then all of a sudden, it hit! Piper was the first one to the stairs. As she began running down the stairs all the pictures and knickknacks were falling on top of her. Prue, Phoebe and a almost awake Rachel followed trying to negotiate the obstacle course of debris. The stairs were getting very wobbly to walk on as Piper hit the last step and sprinted for the door.

"OH, NOOOOOO!" Piper screamed as she headed for the street.

Prue, Phoebe and Rachel were close behind. Shingles began falling from the pitched roof while the shutters waved to them and some of the windows started cracking down the middle and breaking into pieces.

Piper could not help herself and waved her arms in the air. "TAKE THAT! You old shake and bake thingy," Piper cried, as she froze the entire house. The quake continued throughout the neighborhood, but the Halliwell Manor was safe.

"WOW! Sis! I did not think you had THAT much juice in your blood. Good going!" Phoebe said, sounding impressed, but jealous of her power.

"I have THAT much juice, when I am THAT panicked!" Piper says as she notices the earthquake is beginning to fade, "Good. The quake is settling down." Piper collapsed on the front lawn.

"Boy Phoebe, it's a good thing you weren't naked this time or you would have flashed the whole neighborhood," Prue tells her laughing as Phoebe socks Prue in the shoulder. "OW! Hey!" Prue yelled, as she gave Phoebe 'the glare' and gave Phoebe a pinch in the arm.

"OUCH!" Phoebe yelled almost chuckling, "Oooh! Why did you have to go and tell the whole neighborhood now?" Phoebe squinted a goofy smirk at Prue.

"Hey, looks like Rachel is starting to come around some more," Piper noticed, "Wake up. Come on, wake up, sweetie," Prue said.

"What the heck? What is going on? Oh no, you have got to be kidding me. Do not tell me I walked all the way out here! This is getting to be way too much," Rachel said as she suddenly felt weak and collapsed back as Prue caught her right before she fell to the ground.

"We just had a big shaking experience. We're outside for our own safety," Phoebe said.

"Is everything okay? What do you mean by 'shaking experience'? That sounds bad!" Rachel said.

"Oh. All we had was an earthquake. You know those things, their very common here in San Francisco," Phoebe said not really shocked, as she paused, "I think we can go back in the house now, thanks to Piper."

"What…what did Piper do?" Rachel stuttered, very confused.

"Oh, well...it's really nothing...it's just..." Phoebe is about to explain but Piper cuts her off.

"I AM NOT going back in that house!" Piper said.

"Okay, suit yourself. It is still awful early in the morning. Goodnight, Piper! I hope the sprinklers don't get you drenched," Prue said, smiling back at her as she bent over and turned the sprinklers on.

"WHAT? WAIT!" Piper said, as water started spraying her, "AAAAH! Just you try that again!" Piper yelled as she ran through the front door as water dripped down her face with a disgusted look on her face. Prue smiled at her, almost laughing.

Inside, the place was a disaster. There was broken glass and crockery everywhere as she noticed what was on the floor.

"Oh no, not Grams antique porcelain figures!" Piper cried, as she looked at the millions of pieces on the floor.

"I think we can save a couple of them. This neighborhood has not been hit like this since the big one in 1906. That's the second big quake that Halliwell Manor has survived!" Phoebe said.

"Well, I guess I better get back to bed! You know what you should do; you should strap me in this time!" Rachel said, as she laughed.

"Hey, Rachel. You know, if we weren't up chasing you around the house, we could have really been hurt," Prue said to Rachel.

"So thanks for making us get up. It saved our butts - literally!" Piper said.

"You're welcome," Rachel said as she scratched her head, "I think."

Prue and Piper head back upstairs, with Rachel trailing behind as Phoebe turns toward the stairs and looks up at Rachel and says, "Let's just hope this doesn't happen again anytime soon," Phoebe tells Rachel as she turns back toward the foyer and looks at the huge mess they will have to clean up in the morning and sighs.

Prue, Phoebe and Rachel went right to sleep. Piper was still edgy about the quake. She lay in bed as she stared up at the ceiling at the many cracks of the ancient plaster. A much younger Piper would often see whole jungles and barnyards of animals in the cracks.

As Piper grew older, it reminded her more of a Monet painting with tall brushes and water lilies floating across a pond. Now with many new cracks, Piper could see nothing familiar. What had remained, though constant for fifteen or twenty years, had now changed with fresh new cracks and new lines across her water lilies.

She strained her eyes trying to find something familiar or for that matter, any image at all. As dawn came, she finally decided it was a metaphor for the myriad of her life and the problems caused by being a witch. Piper finally drifted off to sleep even as Prue and Phoebe started downstairs to take care of the mess the earthquake made.

"Wow! Look at this mess. It is going to take weeks of work, and I do not know how much money it is going to take to put the Manor back together again. The cracks in the ceilings, broken glass, and all the lost shingles. I don't even know where to start," Prue sighed.

Phoebe began looking around the room at all the damage to the manor and could not believe how much of the manor was still standing. She was very surprised. Only then, she noticed on the floor next to a vase of fallen flowers that had been sitting on the foyer shelf. "Oh, Grams, I'm sorry I broke our little blue soldier," Phoebe said in a little girl's voice.

"What was that Pheebs?" Prue asked turning to her sister.

"Oh, I just remember Grams always telling me not to play with her little porcelain figures. I broke the little blue soldier when I was what? Five?" Phoebe asked.

"Something like that. It was so long ago," Prue told her.

"Grams gave me such a lickin'. I can still feel it just thinking about it," Phoebe remembered, as she rolled her eyes back.

"Yes, I remember, too Pheebs. You could not sit down very well for a couple of hours. I remembered I had to put pillows down for you and stuff toilet paper down the back of your pants," Prue remembers laughing.

Phoebe started laughing, too. She realized she can laugh about it now, but back then, she remembered how much it really hurt. "Grams just didn't see how much it really hurt when I broke it. I knew she loved them," Phoebe said.

"She was just teaching you a lesson, Pheebs," Prue said.

"I know. I know that, I deserved it, and now they are all gone except for this little leprechaun, all gone! And so is Grams," Phoebe said quietly.

Prue walked over to Phoebe, kneels down to her little sister, and brushes aside some hair that had fallen in front of her face, and puts an arm around her shoulder and says, "But we still have each other!" Prue said.

"I know. That will ALWAYS be there. At least our pictures seem to have survived the earthquake. The glass just needs to be replaced," Phoebe said.

Prue stood up and continued to figure out the damage in terms of dollars and cents while Phoebe only worried about all the lost memories that came with every item. Just as Phoebe stood up, a pan and broom suddenly flew in from the kitchen and almost knocked Phoebe off her feet.

"Hey! Whoa sis, watch it there. What are you trying to do sweep me off my feet?" Phoebe laughed as she realized the pun.

"Sorry, you're not my type," Prue answered back with a smile.

Prue began cleaning up the mess as Phoebe helped and laughed at Prue's answer.

"Oh, be really careful with our old mirror," Phoebe told her.

The mirror had taken a leap off the wall and onto the floor shattering the glass into millions of pieces.

"You don't have to tell me that. It is pretty old, isn't it?" Prue said.

"I'll help you. Do you ever remember any quake before this?" Phoebe asked.

"No. The '89 quake was bad, but nothing didn't hit our neighborhood like this since the one in 1906," Prue said.

All the glass was quickly cleaned up with a little magical help. Phoebe had put all the broken figurines in a box and took them up to her room. She was determined to salvage what she could since some of them were the only memories she had of Grams.

* * *

After a few hours, the Manor started looking livable again. Prue came walking out of the kitchen and saw Phoebe sitting on the living room couch all tuckered out from cleaning up.

"Why is it that I'm always so tired after cleaning this house?" Phoebe asked.

"I guess it's like doing aerobics. At least it keeps your heart pumping. It keeps it strong and healthy that way," Prue says walking to the back of the couch and leans over to Phoebe. "Are Piper and Rachel, still asleep?" Prue asked.

Just as Prue said that Phoebe notices Rachel walking down the stairs - sleepwalking! AGAIN!? "Ah, sort of," Phoebe sighs with a look as if saying 'not again.'

Prue turns around and rolls her eyes. "Not again!"

Phoebe turns quickly to look at Prue thinking how she read her mind. Then she remembered not too long ago she and Piper and cast a spell to be able to read minds.

"Prue, tell me something," Phoebe start to say.

"What!" Prue answered.

"Did you cast that thinking spell again? Because I was thinking the same thing," Phoebe said looking curiously at Prue.

"Phoebe! This is not the time for a game of questions and answers! Phoebe! This is getting dangerous. Rachel has to go see a doctor or, a psychologist or something. This is starting to become a really bad habit for her."

Rachel starts walking through the foyer as Phoebe notices she is heading for the front door. "Whoa! Hey, Prue, quick, she's heading for the front door," Phoebe said quickly.

Prue turned her around after preventing Rachel from falling over the couch. She then headed into the kitchen.

"Gangway everybody, the Rachel Express Train is coming through," Phoebe said in a little girl's voice.

As they chased after her into the kitchen, Prue turned her away from the back door. All of a sudden, a rumbling feeling came from far away and quickly reached their house moving what china and crockery that had not fallen the first time around.

"OH NO! AN AFTERSHOCK!" Prue yelled as she was knocked to the ground.

Phoebe was thrown from last few steps of the stairs she was standing on, but got up quickly as she tried to get to the kitchen. She grabbed onto the frame of the door of the kitchen and held on trying to get to Rachel, but the shaking prevented her from walking closer to Rachel as she too fell to the ground.

Rachel just turned and was about to pass the basement door, when she was as if pushed further toward the basement door and closer to the stairs of the basement. Phoebe saw this and tried to get up to try to catch her before she went through the door, but she was too late.

"RACHEL?" Phoebe cried heading for the basement door, forgetting that you are not supposed to wake up a sleepwalker. Nevertheless, you would think that this aftershock would most definitely wake her up.

Suddenly, as Rachel woke up and realized she was losing her footing she screamed as she hit the railing and tumbled down the steps and into the hard masonry wall and landed face first at the bottom of the stairs.

"NOOOOOOOO! RACHEL!" Phoebe yelled as she finally got to her feet and raced down the basement stairs.

Just then, Piper came stomping downstairs as she held onto the railing as the rumbling began to fade away as she began shouting again. "I'VE HAD IT! I am moving to New York! I don't care what anybody says!"

"QUICK PIPER! Rachel, fell down the basement stairs," Prue said quickly, as she finally was able to get up off the floor.

"WHAT? OH NO!" Piper said.

Prue and Piper headed through the kitchen, to the basement door, and down the steps. At the bottom of the stairs, they found Phoebe crying as she was sitting next to her, stroking her hair. "OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, RACHEL! NO! NO! PLEASE WAKE UP!" Phoebe screamed as she was about to turn her around on her back.

"Phoebe, DON'T move her!" Piper yelled down as she raced down the stairs, her voice breaking.

"We CAN'T move her...just in case her neck or back is broken," Prue told Phoebe as she began to break down herself.

"SHE'S NOT WAKING UP, PRUE!" Phoebe cried hysterically.

"I'll call 911," Piper said running back upstairs for the phone. She picked up the phone as her hands trembled. She hears a dial tone. "Thank you God! It's working!" Piper said to herself. She dials 911 and waits for an answer as she tries to contain herself from breaking down over the phone. "Yes, my name is Piper. Piper Halliwell; we need an ambulance quickly! A friend of ours fell down our basement stairs. She was sleepwalking when the earthquake hit. Our address is 1329 Prescott Street. Please hurry!" Piper hung up quickly and ran to the basement door.

* * *

Down in the basement, Prue was kneeling down next to Phoebe as she tried to comfort her and said, "Don't worry Pheebs, she'll be okay," Prue said trying to reassure her. Prue turned her head away from Phoebe trying to reassure herself that Rachel would be okay.

"The ambulance is on its way," Piper yelled as she looked down to the floor of the basement. She could not believe what just happened as she turned away and quietly sobbed.

Ten minutes later, which seemed like ten years the ambulance, finally arrived as Piper rushed to open the front double doors and led the way to the basement. The paramedics quickly got to the basement as Prue, Piper and Phoebe watched anxiously.

"Okay, can someone tell me how this happened?" One of the paramedics asked.

"Yes, my friend has had some sleeping problems, and when she does sleep she tends to sleepwalk and we caught her sleepwalking and was...uh...uh...trying to guide her back to her room. When she walked into the kitchen, we were about to turn her around when the aftershock of the earthquake hit and we were all thrown to the ground. She stumbled and lost her footing and fell down the basement stairs," Prue tried to explain without breaking down.

"What's your friend's name?" a paramedic asked.

"Her name is Rachel! Is she going to be all right? Please tell me, is she going to be okay?" Phoebe cried.

"We'll let you know in a minute," he said.

One of the paramedics checked her pupils and called out to her, "Rachel? Rachel? Can you hear me? Can you open your eyes? Rachel? Can you open your eyes for me?" Her pupils were fixed and dilated. The paramedics quickly worked on Rachel and began to get her ready to transport her to the ambulance.

There was no response as Phoebe sobbed harder as Prue grabbed her sister, held her tightly, and tried to comfort her. Piper quietly cried as tears streamed down her face as Prue held out her other arm for Piper. Piper walked into her arms, and they all tried to remain as calm as they can under the terrible circumstances.

They watched as the paramedics carefully turned her on her back, placed her on a flat board, and secured her neck with a rubberneck brace just in case she fractured her neck or back. They immediately started her on an IV and began checking her vitals.

"BP is 130 over 90, pulse is 60 and weak," the paramedic announced into his CB monitor.

"Give her 10 CC's of D5W, and transport immediately," a voice over the paramedics CB monitor answered back.

Phoebe breaks from Prue and walks up to one of the paramedics. "Excuse me, can we ride to the hospital with her?" Phoebe asked.

"Only one of you can ride; we don't have room for more than one person. The rest of you can follow behind us," the paramedic told her.

"It is okay, Pheebs. Piper and I will take the car and follow," Prue said giving her a hug.

Prue grabbed the keys as Piper grabbed their coats and ran out the door and got in the car and followed the ambulance.

"Oh Prue, I don't think I can take any more of this. This should not be happening to Rachel. It is not right! I feel like it's our entire fault," Piper said, as she cried into her hands.

"Piper honey, we can't blame ourselves. There is no one to blame. It was just an accident," Prue told Piper as tears fell down her face, "Piper, we have to face this together, if this happened to you or Phoebe, you know we would have the same feelings for you and Phoebe as we do for Rachel. She has been like a little sister to us since, well, forever it seems like. Do you remember all those great times we had when we were together in high school? Can you believe it's almost 15 years?"

"Prue? Please! Please stop! I don't want to talk about that, it brings back too many memories, please let's just stop talking about it," Piper tells her as she wipes her tears away.

Piper wants to be distracted for a while so she turns the radio on to listen to some music. She turns on a local station just as a song had ended, and they hear the DJ: "And now this is for all those special friends out there, here is Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder singing, 'That's What Friends Are For.' Turn to your friends and tell them how much you care about them and remember every day is a day to be thankful for your friends."

Prue sighs hearing this and for a brief second she shuts her eyes and reaches for the radio to turn it off, when Piper places her hand on top of Prue's and stops her from turning it off.

"Prue. It is okay. I love this song," Piper tells her.

"Are you sure?" Prue questions.

"Yes. I'm okay," Piper says as Prue holds on to her hand.

Prue and Piper listen to the words of the song as they follow the ambulance to the hospital.

_"And I never thought I'd feel this way,_

_And as far as I'm concerned I'm glad_

_I got the chance to say,_

_That I do believe I love you."_

Piper sits silently, leans her head back, and closes her eyes. Prue looks over to Piper as she sees tears fall down her cheeks. Prue gently takes her hand, holds it against Piper's cheek, and wipes away her tears.

_"And if I should ever go away,_

_Well then, close your eyes and try_

_To feel the way we do today_

_And then if you can remember_

_Keep smilin' keep shinin'_

_Knowing you can always count on me for sure_

_That's what friends are for_

_For good times and bad times,_

_I'll be on your side forever more_

_That's what friends are for."_

While the song continues, Prue watches Phoebe sitting in the back of the ambulance next to Rachel as Phoebe lays her head in her hands and cries.

_"Well you came and opened me,_

_And now there's so much more I see_

_And so, by the way, I thank_

_And then for the times when we're apart,_

_Well then, close your eyes and know_

_These words are coming from my heart,_

_And then, if you can remember."_

Inside the ambulance, the radio is turned to the same station as Phoebe listens to it and cries quietly.

_"Keep smilin' keep shinin'_

_Knowing you can always count on me for sure_

_That's what friends are for_

_For good times and bad times,_

_I'll be on your side forever more_

_That's what friends are for."_


	9. Chapter 7: Rachel's Possessed

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Rachel's Possessed**

* * *

Almost two months have passed and Mark has not touched her other than in a romantic way. He knew which of her buttons to push. One night in his apartment at an especially wonderful time, he had soft romantic music playing in the background as they were lying on the couch together. Mark had his arms around her and stroking her long blonde hair when he leaned in and began kissing her.

He slowly pushed her shoulder strap off her shoulder, and he kissed her neck and began working his way down to her shoulder. Things began getting a little rougher than usual. Mark was definitely trying to finish what he had started.

"No Mark, please! The evening has been great, and I do not want it ruined. I'm sorry, but I think I have to leave before things get too out of hand," Rachel said.

Mark did not even try to hear her as he held her down with more force as she tried to get out of his grasp and tried to creep further down trying to get out from underneath him.

Rachel could not understand what suddenly got into him. She was scared and wanted for him to stop, but he was not letting go. "Mark! No! Stop it!" Rachel said sternly as she tried to push him off her. Nevertheless, he was much too strong for her.

"No! Not this time. You won't pass me by this time," Mark said to her more forcefully.

Mark began forcing himself on her and kissed her hard on the mouth as he held her arms down. He then suddenly rips her blouse off showing only her bra as he continues to kiss her hard. He continues kissing her shoulders and works his way down to her chest as she tried to break free, but he too strong.

She began crying uncontrollably and screaming to Mark to get off her. She became frightened as he started to unbutton her pants and tried desperately to stop him from going any further. She knew what was about to happen and was scared out of her mind and wished someone would rescue her.

"Mark, you're hurting me. Please stop! Please! You're frightening me!" she cried. She tried to push him off again but this time he got very angry.

"DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME TO STOP AGAIN!" Mark yelled at her as he raised his hand and hit her across the face with his fist, then hit her again with the back of his hand. She screamed in agony and fear as she again struggled as he held her down so tight that bruises began to form on her arms, wrists and her legs from him holding her legs down to tightly.

She tried to kick him, but it was impossible, she tried screaming to get away from him, but he covered her mouth with his mouth and continued to kiss her hard. She felt it seemed hopeless.

Finally, she thought she had a chance, when he was not holding her as hard and she quickly got off the couch. He grabbed her hard and threw her back onto the couch. She landed face down on the couch as Mark sat on the back of her legs and held her down with his arms.

Rachel was so terrified that she felt so tired from trying to break free she almost gave up. Mark was so angry and he began beating her with his fists on her back as she cried out in pain.

* * *

Back at the Manor, Phoebe was sitting on the couch still reading her book when suddenly she was thrown into a vision, she saw the back of a man attacking a woman, but she could not see who they were. She heard the woman scream in agony.

When the vision stopped, Phoebe tried catching her breath. She has never felt like that before. It felt as though it was her being attacked and she began sobbing, but could not figure out why she had a vision out of nowhere.

Normally, she has to touch something to get a vision. She could not understand what that meant. She got up, went to the kitchen, and drank a glass of water to try to calm down. She always felt as though she were choking for air every time she had a vision.

But this one was a lot different. She could hardly breathe. She walked back to the couch and sat down and tried to continue to read her book as she sat there still thinking what in the world that vision meant.

* * *

Back at Mark's apartment, Rachel was still pleading and crying for him to stop. "Please, Mark, please. Why are you doing this to me?" she cried.

Mark got up off the couch, grabbed her by the wrists, turned her around, and threw her back down on the couch on her back. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE NOW! THE SHOW IS ABOUT TO START!" Mark yelled as he quickly took off his pants revealing his boxer shorts. She finally found her chance and had enough.

With her knee, she kicked him in the groin as he finally rolled off her and moaned in extreme pain. Quickly, she grabbed her shirt, put it on, buttoned up her jeans, and rushed to the door. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She kept looking back to see whether he was coming after her.

Mark was still on the floor groaning in excruciating pain and rolling back and forth trying to get up. He started slowly trying to get up.

Rachel was sobbing and trying desperately to open the door, but he had several locks on the door. She trembled as she finally got the last lock and bolted out the door and slammed the door behind her. She ran from the apartment frightened, hurt and confused.

She rushed outside and realized she did not have a car, so she began running down the street trying to hold her clothes together. About a block away, she saw a cab, rushed over to the cab, and got in.

Black tears rolled down her face, and her hair was messed up. She held her shirt tightly closed. Mark had ripped the buttons off when he ripped her blouse. The cabbie looked back and quickly figured out what had happened to her and felt bad for her. She was shaking and sobbing.

"Should I take you to the hospital? Are you going to be okay?" the cabbie asked her.

Rachel tried to speak, but she screamed and cried so much that she hardly could speak.

"Ma'am, can you tell me the address, and I can get you to where you need to go quickly," the cabbie told her.

She looked up at the cabbie with tears rolling down her face and trembling as she tried. She slowly muttered as she finally said stuttering, "Ppplllease...t-t-t-take...me...t-t-t-o...1-3-2-9...P-p-prescott...S-s-s-st."

She continued to cry, as her whole body was so sore. All she just wanted to do was to curl up and die. She could not understand why Mark would do this to her. After all, what they meant to each other, she thought he loved her. She just could not get it out of her mind what happened tonight. It is as if he were possessed or something.

The cab finally drove up to the manor. To her it seemed as though it took forever to get home. She got out and paid the cabbie as she held her blouse closed to hide her bruises. She quickly walked up, looked through the front window, and saw that Phoebe was still in the living room.

She snuck in quietly from the kitchen's back door without Phoebe knowing, ran upstairs, and crawled into bed. She was hurt both physically and emotionally. She had always felt so safe with Mark, and he completely violated her faith. She did not even want to think about what happened to her was an attempted rape.

* * *

The next morning, Piper had left early to go to the club, and Prue left before Piper to catch the sunrise for a photo assignment she was doing. Phoebe finished breakfast and looked at the time. "Oh my gosh, I have to wake up Rachel," she says to herself, as she quickly poured two cups of coffee and heads up the stairs and walks down the hall and opens the door to their room.

"Hey Rachel, you sleepyhead, I got some coffee for you," Phoebe says setting down the cup of coffee on her nightstand, "Hey! Wake up kiddo! Hey, I did not hear you come in last night. Boy, you two must have had some night together last night," Phoebe said noticing Rachel has not moved, "Hey Rachel," she says, "Do you want a ride to class today?" Phoebe asked cheerfully as she sat at the edge of the bed next to Rachel.

Rachel did not want to turn around to face Phoebe because she felt too violated and too embarrassed that she did not want Phoebe to know what happened to her. Finally, Rachel spoke up, "Um, no. I do not feel very good. I think I'm going to stay home today."

Phoebe suddenly looked worried, "Do you want me to drive you to the hospital?" Phoebe asked.

"No, that's okay; I'll just take some aspirin and stay in bed. I will be fine, Pheebs. Now go on. You do not want to be late for class. I'll see you later, okay!" Rachel said, dismissing her.

"Now just a minute here. If you're not feeling well, I'd like to know whether you have a temperature or not before we jump to any conclusions," Phoebe stated.

Phoebe walked into the bathroom and grabbed the thermometer. She doused the thermometer with some alcohol, then washed it, checked it, then shook it down to a normal temperature and walked over Rachel. Phoebe tried to touch her forehead as Rachel quickly pulled the covers up and over her head to hide her face.

"Hey, come on now! Stop being so stubborn. Here open up and stick it under your tongue," Phoebe tells her.

"Phoebe! I do not need my temperature taken. Please stop trying to make me. I am not that sick. I'll be fine tomorrow morning," Rachel said.

"Stop being a baby about this," Phoebe says as she pauses and thinks for a moment as an idea pops into her head, "Okay, if you want to be a baby about this we can do it the baby way, or we can do it the adult way," Phoebe told her sternly.

"PHOEBE! Come on, if you think you're going to stick that thing in my mouth…" she begins telling her as Phoebe cuts her off.

"Well, believe me THAT'S not where a baby would take it. And believe me you wouldn't like where I would stick it," Phoebe says as she waves the thermometer in the air.

Suddenly, Rachel's eyes widen with shock. "Okay, okay, give me the thermometer, I'll put it in my own mouth," Rachel says quickly.

Phoebe quietly chuckles as she sits on the side of the bed as Rachel tries to stay under the covers to hide the bruises. A few minutes pass as Phoebe is about to grab the thermometer when Rachel takes it out of her mouth and hands it to her. Phoebe looks at it.

"Oh my gosh, you've got a temperature of 101! That is it! You are staying home young lady. You have a high temperature. When you wake up take a cold bath, it will lower your temperature. And be sure you drink plenty of liquids," Phoebe tells her, "Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the doctor?"

"Yes, Dr. Halliwell, I'm fine. I just need some sleep, that's all," Rachel tells her.

"Okay. If you say so. I will call later. Bye, Rachel," Phoebe pauses and thinks for a second, "Hey that sounds nice - Dr. Halliwell," Phoebe said aloud.

"Oh brother!" Rachel says.

"Hey, I heard that, Miss Rachel. I just might want to be a doctor, so don't laugh," Phoebe says trying to get her to laugh to relieve some tension in the room.

Phoebe bent down and gave Rachel a kiss on the forehead, as she quickly jerked away not wanting her to see the bruises. Phoebe walks to the door and looks back at Rachel with a worried look as she opens the door and walks into the hallway and shuts the door. Phoebe leans on the door and tries to shake the worry she had and leaves.

Rachel was still very sore, so she went back to sleep. Later, around noon she painfully pulled herself out of bed and looked in the mirror at herself. She saw she had a bruise on either side of her face, and large bruises on her arms and legs. She slowly pulled up on her nightgown and looked at her bruised body.

She had bruises on her sides and chest. She lifted her nightgown higher and turned around and looked at her back. There were bigger bruises on her back where Mark had hit her the most. She hurt more than ever.

All she wanted was a soothing bubble bath to rest her sore body, and to forget about Mark, which would be hard to do, because in a way she still loved him. It was so soothing that she fell asleep.

After sleeping for what seemed like forever, but was only a couple of hours, Piper came home. She had been at the club since 6 AM supervising repairs to the club, and the cleanup of a water pipe that had burst. Phoebe had called her at the club and mentioned to her that Rachel was not feeling well.

So they decided to put lunch on hold as Piper was determined to check up on Rachel and to take a break before the evening crowd had started. Piper walked up the stairs, looked in Rachel's bedroom, and noticed she was not in bed, so she knocked on the bathroom door thinking she was throwing up.

"Anyone in there? Rachel? Are you okay in there?" she asked. With no answer, she walked in. She saw Rachel soaking in the tub and was shocked to see all the bruises on her body, especially the large bruises on her back. "Rachel!?" she yelled as she quickly ran up to the tub, "You're hurt. What happened? Did somebody do this to you?" Piper cried as she placed her hand on her back to look more closely at the bruises.

Rachel suddenly woke up to the touch of Piper's hand on her back and jerked away as she splashed some water on Piper to get her away from her, and also was somewhat embarrassed, and pulled the shower curtain around the tub and turned away from Piper.

Then Rachel spoke up, "Stupid me. I fell down the stairs leaving Mark's apartment last night. I will be okay, Piper. Don't worry."

"Yes, I will worry Rachel," Piper says as she opened the curtain, "You wouldn't look like that even if you were pushed," as Rachel closes the curtain once again. "You have been severely beaten, haven't you," Piper says as she begins to get annoyed at the reaction she was getting from Rachel as well as being very concerned for her as Piper grabs the curtain again and opens it and holds it in her hand. "Did Mark do this?" Piper asked as Rachel tries to grab the curtain away from Piper.

"NO! NOW GO AWAY!" Rachel screams.

Piper jumped back startled, and was shocked at the tone she used with her. Rachel has never yelled at her like that before. Piper knew this was not Rachel acting this way, something had a hold of her and she was not sure what it was and was very concerned and frightened for her.

Rachel finally grabs the curtain from Piper and tries to close it again, but Piper has a firm grip on the curtain. Now with tears running down her face, Rachel says, "I'm fine. Nothing happened to me. I'm fine, Piper," she pleaded, as her voice breaks, hoping she would leave and not notice.

Piper can hear the fear in her voice as she can tell how much she is hurting. "No! I am not going to ignore this. I love you too much to see you get hurt. You are like a sister to me, more to the point, you ARE my sister. I want to help you, please! Now get out of there right now! I will help you get dressed. I'm taking you to the hospital, right now!" Piper ordered, who now has tears in her eyes.

Nevertheless, all Rachel could do was to curl up in the bathtub. She pulled the shower curtain to close it, but it came off its hinges and fell on top of her as she quickly covered herself with it and wondered if she could ever go on living.

Piper was so angry to think what Mark has done, if it was Mark who had done it. She ran out of the bathroom almost hysterical, ran down to the phone, and called Prue on her cellphone.

Prue was on a photo shoot taking shots of San Francisco. She had to be finished by tomorrow morning when her cellphone rang.

_"Hello, Prue Halliwell!" Prue answered._

"Prue! Prue! I do not know what to do! I am scared for Rachel! I think Mark attacked her last night," Piper quickly said breaking down over the phone.

_"Piper! Piper! Wait! Hey, slow down, honey! Piper, I cannot understand what you are saying! Please, take a deep breath. Sweetie, what's wrong?" Prue asked who now is getting really worried as she tries to get Piper to calm down._

Piper tried to take a slow deep breath and tried to explain again, "Prue, I think Mark attacked Rachel last night, but she won't admit it. Prue, I am scared for her. He might try it again. I think he's been abusing her, because she has bruises all over her body and face."

_"Piper, okay, okay, just take it easy. Take another deep breath, take a drink of water, and relax. I am on my way home right now! Okay, just calm down Piper. Take it easy. Relax, okay! It will be okay!" Prue told her._

Prue was really upset and headed straight for home. She could not believe what Piper had told her. Thoughts rolled through her mind to the time she had been attacked when she was 17.

She can understand what Rachel must be going through, the pain, and the fear. Prue has never in her life sped through San Francisco the way she did. She was lucky she was not pulled over for speeding.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Phoebe just happened to get home and was walking up the steps to the front door as she stops and looks for her keys. When she suddenly hears a car screeching around the corner. She quickly turns around and notices that it's Prue's car. Prue slams on her brakes and races out of the car and runs up and past Phoebe.

"Whoa! Hey! Where's the fire, sis?" Phoebe asked.

Prue quickly gets her keys out and unlocks the front door. "Piper called me in a panic and said something terrible has happened to Rachel," Prue told her as she raced into the house.

"WHAT! OH NO! I knew something was wrong this morning," Phoebe cried, now running into the manor, "It's my entire fault! I knew I should have insisted to take her to the hospital."

Piper was pacing in the foyer with a very nervous and frightened look on her face. Two years ago, she would have been a lot more hysterical at this point, than she already was. Piper's face was red from crying as Prue quickly walked up and gave Piper a hug. "I can't get her out of the bathtub, Prue. She is too scared and hurt to move. I was afraid to even try to get her out of the bathtub."

They all rushed upstairs to the bathroom. They noticed Rachel was all curled up with the shower curtain wrapped around her. "WHAT HAPPENED TO HER, PIPER?! How did she get all those bruises?" Phoebe cried out. Phoebe went over to look at Rachel and saw how badly bruised she was. Her face, arms and back were badly bruised. "Oh Rachel, you're beautiful face. I'm so sorry," Phoebe whispered, as she stood up and walked back over to Prue and Piper.

"I think Mark attacked her!" Piper said quickly.

"What do you mean attacked...attacked like hit, or attacked like...supernatural...or attacked...um...sexually?" Prue said horrified by either way.

"Um, I really can't tell! She has been very badly beaten. She said she fell down the stairs as Mark's apartment, but I do not believe that for a second. If someone pushed her down the stairs, those bruises who show up like that. They had to be done by a fist!" Piper said.

"We'll get her into the bed, one way or another," Prue announced.

Prue carefully levitates her from the bathtub, shower curtain and all.

Rachel starts to wake up, clearly disoriented. "What? What is going on? Mark? Is that you? STAY AWAY FROM ME! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME AGAIN!" Rachel said groggily, frightened and waving her arms and legs in the air as if fighting someone off.

"Everything is okay Rachel. It's just me, Phoebe and Prue," Piper said as she gently grabbed her arms, to prevent her from hurting herself. "We're putting you into bed, it is okay sweetie."

"You'll be fine," Phoebe said, still very upset at how frightened she still is, even after the attack. Then she remembered the way Prue was attacked and knows the fear she had and feels the way Rachel is feeling right now, terrified and alone.

Piper went to get her some clothes as Phoebe took the shower curtain off her and drained the bathtub. Piper handed Phoebe her clothes as she began drying her off with a bath towel.

Phoebe then started dressing her. It was like dressing a little girl, as if she did not know how to dress herself. They dressed her in a pair of shorts and a tank top. Rachel was still very much in and out of it, not knowing what is going on.

Prue put her down in a standing position as Piper and Prue put Rachel's arms around their shoulders and walked down the hall to her room. She was carefully placed into bed as she still had a terrified look on her face and somewhat still trying to fight off whatever was hurting her.

"It's all right. No one will hurt you now," Piper said as she held Rachel's arms down.

"You get some rest, okay," Prue said, as Piper and Phoebe tried to get her calmed down.

Phoebe gave Rachel a comforting hug of sympathy as she immediately was thrown into a premonition. She saw the same images she had seen before, but this time she saw that it was Mark attacking Rachel.

She saw how rough and brutal he was with her. He was not just beating her; it was at least aggravated assault. Phoebe came back from her vision, half-choking just from the fear of what she saw.

Rachel saw that Phoebe looked like she was having trouble breathing and asked, "What's wrong, Phoebe?"

"Nothing, Rachel. Just go back to sleep," Phoebe said, shooing her sisters out as Rachel began drifting off to sleep, finally!

Phoebe led Prue and Piper out into the hallway, quietly shut the door, and whispered, "The premonition I had...it was definitely Mark, no doubt about it! I don't know why Rachel won't say anything."

"If you were just as crazy about him, too, you might not want anybody to know either. But, she will have to come to us on her own," Prue whispered back.

"But that's not the worst of it. I felt that he was a Demon, Warlock, or something. I just don't know enough to identify him yet," Phoebe said in a whisper.

"Now I know why their relationship moved so fast. He is probably trying to come after us. This cannot happen to Rachel. I knew something like this would happen. She is just in the middle of another one of our witch problems. Pheebs, she has to find a place of her own. Otherwise, it could be worse next time," Prue said.

"Well, there won't be a next time. If I can help it! Prue! She is our responsibility now. Give her time to recover and then we will see about the future. Or at least I will 'see' about the future," Phoebe says, trying to lighten the mood.

"Did anybody think about calling her parents and let them know what's happening with their daughter?" Piper asked.

"Yeah sure. Piper, what are we supposed to say, 'Mr. and Mrs. Williams, I'm sorry to have to say this, but your daughter has been possessed by a Demon. We're good witches, and we can vanquish the Demon and save your daughter,' I don't think that will go over very well," Prue says sarcastically.

"Yes, your right Prue. That wouldn't work to well," Piper answers.

"Hey, we have to find that monster before we let her out of our sight. I do not want anything to happen to her guys. I love her too much!" Phoebe said sternly, but still with a look of sadness.

"I agree. We love her, too, Pheebs," Piper said giving Phoebe a hug.

Prue gave in, hugged the both of them, and said, "Let's be very careful. We have to stay focused on Rachel and getting rid of this ass…" Prue stops herself and looks at her sisters, "Okay, I know I shouldn't have tried to say that. Anyway...I love you guys."

"We love you too!" Piper and Phoebe said together.


	10. Chapter 8: The Feeling Of Guilt

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**The Feeling Of Guilt**

* * *

Prue watches Phoebe through the window of the ambulance with tears running down her face and wondering how this could have happened. Suddenly Prue's distraction was deterred when she found herself meandering into the other lane and quickly got back behind the ambulance.

Prue began thinking to herself, 'This shouldn't be happening to us. Of all the years, we have known Rachel and all the trouble Rachel used to get into, and Phoebe into when you guys were younger, now Rachel's in trouble. In addition, more trouble than we can ever imagine. I have always felt like we were the unstoppable "Four Musketeers" all these years, but now, this just might have stopped it. We just can't lose Rachel, not at the expense of an earthquake, not the expense of anything for that matter,' she paused and looked over to Piper, 'And poor Piper, she feels totally helpless and alone. But she doesn't have to be, she still has us to hold on to her and love her just as much as we love Rachel,' Prue thinks than lets out a long sigh and continues driving.

Piper is looking out of the side window as you can see her tears have stained her cheeks as she closes her eyes and thinks to herself, 'Sometimes I wish Phoebe never found The Book of Shadows. None of this would be happening to us. We cannot lose another friend again. Andy would still be alive and Prue would be happy. She has not been happy since Andy died. She has tried to move on, but she never really seems to be happy. She really liked Jack a lot, but I could tell she really was not happy. Then of course, there was Alan. I really thought she was going to try to move on, but it never worked out with Alan.'

'Now with Rachel back again with us, I knew Phoebe was happy, and we were happy to have her. However, with the changes that we have experienced, knowing we were born witches it has been hard to keep a hold on our friends, look what happened to Andy when Prue told her the truth about us.'

'Now that Darryl knows the truth about us, I wonder how long he will stay alive. It is a good thing he is on a long vacation around the world with his wife and child. I still wish Darryl were here. However, who can help us, when it looks like we are going to lose yet another loved one. A loved one who I...who we consider another sister. I wish Leo were here. He has been gone much too long.'

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the back of the ambulance, Phoebe lifted her head from the side of the gurney and tries to figure out exactly what went wrong.

"Why did this have to happen to Rachel? Why? Why? Why? Why couldn't I see this coming? Why did my powers fail me to see what would happen to her. Why did I see only the earthquake and not this?" Phoebe turns to an unconscious Rachel and whispers into her ear, "Can you hear me Rachel? If you can, I just want to say how sorry I am that this has happened to you. I know you had no idea what was happening to you. I am so sorry. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE ME! Do not leave us! We all love you. I love you. You're our sister - ALWAYS!" Phoebe says as she holds Rachel's hand and breaks down in sobs.

Phoebe starts thinking how much Rachel has meant to her.

'Oh Rachel, I wish I could stop your pain. I mean...there have been a couple of times I wish I hadn't found out that we were witches, and wished I would have never said the spell that gave us our powers. No powers in the world could have prevented this. The only power I had I could have prevented this...but why didn't I see more of the earthquake. I should have seen you falling down those blasted stairs. I never thought this would happen.

Prue and Piper could not even save you from falling down those stairs. Even with Piper's power to freeze, she could not have known either that you would fall down the stairs. This cannot be happening, not to Rachel. She has to be all right, she just has to be. SHE CANNOT DIE! She just cannot! I do not think I could take losing Rachel, not after Andy.'

Phoebe takes a hold of Rachel's hand and leans her head forward against the side of the gurney, when she sobs quietly. Just then, Phoebe felt Rachel squeeze her hand lightly. Phoebe gasped as she quickly raises her head and looked at Rachel.

"Hey! Rachel! Can you open your eyes for me? Oh please, be all right, please!" Phoebe said getting excited, "Hey, excuse me, sir. She squeezed my hand. Is she going to be okay?"

"We'll know a lot more when we get her to the hospital. The doctors will tell you more than I can. It is okay ma'am; we will take good care of her. Is she your sister?" the paramedics asked.

"Well, not by blood. She's my sister in every sense of the word," Phoebe tells him.

Then when Phoebe was watching Rachel's hand to see if she would squeeze her hand again, Rachel suddenly opened her eyes and let out a groan. Phoebe looked up and saw that she opened her eyes.

"Hey! Rachel! You are awake. Oh, thank God! Thank you God!" Phoebe says looking toward the sky, "Don't you dare do this again to me, and you understand me!" Phoebe said in a sisterly tone as tears ran down her face.

"Ph-oo-bb-," Rachel began, trying to smile when Phoebe cut her off.

"No. Shhh! Do not talk right now, you need your strength," Phoebe told her as she moved some hair away from her face and smiled.

Suddenly, Rachel let out a loud painful moan, her eyes fluttered back, and she fell into unconsciousness. "No! Rachel! Please, do not do this to me! Don't you do this!" Phoebe screamed.

The paramedic quickly looked into her eyes and injected some pain medication into her IV tubing.

* * *

Finally, they arrive at the hospital. Prue and Piper quickly parked the car, got out and ran up to the emergency room doors just as Phoebe got out of the ambulance.

"Prue, Piper! Rachel woke up briefly in the ambulance. She tried to say my name and tried to smile, but then she fell back into unconsciousness again. I'm so scared for her guys," Phoebe tells them.

"Yeah, so are we," Prue grabbed Phoebe and gave her a hug, then Piper did the same.

The double doors of the emergency ward open as two emergency technician's wheel in Rachel. Prue, Piper and Phoebe follow closely behind.

Doctors and nurses rush to attend to Rachel as everyone is shouting to one another as Prue, Phoebe and Piper tries to find out what is happening. A doctor checks for vitals and looks into Rachel's eyes, then turns to a nurse and says, "I want a CAT scan and a MRI stat. I want every available nurse on hand, now!"

Suddenly, Rachel wakes up again and begins to moan in pain and tries to move around as the doctor tries to hold her down so as to not pull out any tubes or for her to hurt herself. "Nurse! I need 20CC's of Hydrocodone, STAT!"

Phoebe cannot bear to listen to Rachel moaning in pain and runs to the lounge as Piper follows her. Piper sits down next to her, puts her arm around her, and hugs her tightly. "Phoebe, it's going to be okay. She's being taken care of, God's watching over her, and he will help her with her pain," Piper tells her.

"Piper, I don't know what I would do if I lost my best friend! I love her Piper!" Phoebe says.

"I know, I know. I love her, too. We have been lucky to have her for a friend; she is more of a sister to us than I ever thought. I am scared, too. So you're not alone," Piper told her.

Piper and Phoebe stand up and walk back over to Prue as they watch to see whether she's being taken care of. A nurse hooks up a heart monitor as another nurse placed a blood pressure monitor on her finger.

The oxygen mask is removed, and an oxygen tube into her nose replaces it. Another nurse reaches for a needle with a tube connected to it and injects a new IV into the top of her hand. The nurse then reaches for a syringe and injects it into a bottle of medicine, then pulls the syringe as the liquid runs into it.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe watches intensely as a male nurse turns Rachel on her side as the nurse injects the hypodermic needle into her hip. When the nurse finishes she turns around and notices the girls watching and waiting. She walks over to them and asks, "Is this your sister?"

Phoebe wants to say yes, but she knows she can't.

Prue answers for Phoebe, "No, but we're all the family she has here in San Francisco. We don't know where her parents are, they're traveling."

"I'm sorry, if you're not family you need to wait in the lobby," The nurse told them. The nurse turns and begins walking away.

"But you don't understand; she needs now more than ever! We are all she has right now! Please let us stay with her!" Phoebe cries as the nurse turns around.

"I'm sorry. I am sorry about your friend. I will call you if there are any questions or any changes. Please relax and just wait in the lobby," the nurse tells her.

Phoebe turns to Prue and Piper, "HOW CAN I RELAX PRUE! MY SISTER IS LYING IN THAT ROOM UNCONSCIOUS AND I CAN'T STOP HER PAIN!" Phoebe yelled as she starts to rush into the emergency room when Prue grabs Phoebe by her coat and pulls Phoebe into a hug. Phoebe cannot take it anymore, breaks down, and falls to the floor. Prue, in tears too, kneels down with her to try to comfort her, but Prue begins breaking down, too. Prue usually is the strong one in the family, but now it's Piper that is the strong one. Piper bends down next to them and helps them both to stand up.

"IT'S ALL MY FAULT!" Phoebe yells under her cries.

Piper can't stop her own tears and says, "Pheebs," she sniffs back tears, "I think this comes under the category of an act of God, the EARTHQUAKE. Remember?"

"Yes, but if we...if I had been faster..." Phoebe said who suddenly was thrown into a premonition.

"What is it? What do you see? Pheebs?" Prue asked.

"I just saw Rachel in a hospital room asleep. But, I don't know for how long, though" Phoebe said as Prue handed her some tissue.

Prue and Piper helped Phoebe to a chair, and they sat in the waiting room. After a few minutes, a nurse came over to them.

"Excuse me, could you give me some information on Rachel. What is her last name? Her age, height, and weight. I will also need her parents' names, their home phone, and address and any other information you can give me," the nurse says handing them a clipboard.

Prue takes the clipboard, when Phoebe grabs it and says, "Prue, I can do this. Please let me do this." Phoebe begins writing down the information as she quietly cries to herself.

_**NAME**: Rachel Williams_

_**AGE**: 26_

_**HEIGHT**: 5'4"_

_**WEIGHT**: 135_

_**PARENT'S NAMES**: David & Erin Williams_

_**SIBLINGS**: None_

_**PARENT'S HOME PHONE**: (575) 555-3443_

_**PARENT'S HOME ADDRESS**: 9418 Oak Wood Drive, Sacramento, CA_

_**PATIENT'S CURRENT ADDRESS**: 1329 Prescott St. San Francisco, CA_

Phoebe gets up and hands the clipboard back to the nurse behind the counter.

The nurse picks it up, looks at it, and asks, "Oh, excuse Miss Halliwell, does Rachel have any allergies?"

"None that we know of," Phoebe answers back.

"Thank you. That is all for right now. If we have any more questions we'll let you know," the nurse tells her and notices how much Phoebe is worried, "Miss Halliwell, don't worry. We have the best doctors here that will help Rachel."

"Thank you," Phoebe says.

Phoebe's about to turn around when she notices Rachel in one of the emergency cubicles with all the tubes and things connected to her and quickly shuts her eyes tightly. Phoebe feels somewhat nauseated as she walks back to Prue and Piper.

* * *

The next morning, the only sound Phoebe can hear is the constant beeping sounds coming from the machines that were connected to Rachel's lifeless body. Phoebe has been by her side all night praying for her.

With all the guilt she felt, she knew it was not her fault, but it was her idea to have Rachel live at the manor. Even if it seemed as though no supernatural, problems had occurred to her. She still would not have fallen down those stairs and would not be in a coma now.

Phoebe was not going to be able to take much more of this, so she sat next to her bedside, closed her eyes, laid her head down next to Rachel, and cried. She lifted her head, looked up at her again, took Rachel's hand, lifted it to her cheek, and leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Come back to us. Please come back to us!" Phoebe sobbed even harder as she put her head back down on the side of her bed when she felt a gentle touch of a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey Pheebs. Is there any change, yet?" Piper asked stroking her hair.

"No! There isn't, and I'm really scared," Phoebe sobbed as Piper pulled her into a hug. "She still is in a coma, and the doctor doesn't know when...or if...she will come out of it. Her vital signs are still somewhat low, but the doctor says it's all up to Rachel now."

"Okay...you Florence Nightingale you. You are heading home now and getting some rest. I will watch her for a while. Prue said she would be by later. YOU still have classes to go to, and I don't have to be to the club until this afternoon," Piper said cocking her head toward her.

"No, I really don't..." Phoebe explained trying desperately to get out of going to class when Piper interrupted her.

"Phoebe, come on now. NO! Go to class. You cannot just put your life on hold. Rachel would not want you to miss any opportunities. I am sure she would understand. Now scoot. I'll keep an eye on her if anything happens," Piper tells her as she digs into her purse and takes out her cellphone, "Here, take my cellphone. You'll be the first to know, okay sweetie!" Piper said moving some hair out of her face.

Phoebe looks down to the floor as she kicks the floor as if she were a little kid again. "Oh, all right. Thanks, Pipe. What would I do without you?" Phoebe asked as she hugged her sister.

Still hugging, Piper answers, "You probably would still be stuck in New York City."

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have bumped into Rachel and she wouldn't be living with us, and she wouldn't have fallen down our basement stairs, and…" Phoebe answers in one breath when Piper cuts her off.

"OKAY PHEEBS, THAT'S ENOUGH! GOODBYE ALREADY! Get going," Piper says as she smacks her backside and scoots her baby sister off.

"Bye. Love you!" Phoebe said.

"Love you too, Pheebs," Piper answers back.

Phoebe turns around and heads out the door as she bumped into of all people - MARK! Phoebe has a look of murder in her eyes as Piper and Phoebe both notice Mark trying to walk into the room as they both barricade the door to prevent him from coming in.

"Hey! What the HELL do you think you are you doing here!?" Piper cried out in fury.

"I heard about Rachel. Please, please let me see her! I came as fast as I could when I heard. How's my Princess?" Mark asked sounding concerned.

"Don't you dare "Princess" her after what you did to her, you low life, two-bit, son-of-a..." Piper says restraining from saying the word she knows she should not say, "I oughta!" Piper cried ready to throw her hands in the air just as Phoebe restrains her from doing so.

"Careful Piper. You don't want to do anything you're going to regret," Phoebe told her, "As for you, you animal. GET OUT! NOW! Before I call security!" Phoebe cried.

"I'm sorry...I...I...didn't know...I didn't think...it was a mistake. Things just got out of hand!" Mark tried to explain.

"YOU BET IT WAS A MISTAKE!" Phoebe yelled.

"Assault and battery and especially an attempted RAPE are not mistakes! I do not know why or what prevented Rachel from calling the cops, but I would have if she did not. NOW GET OUT! Before I REALLY lose my temper!" Piper said pointing to the door.

"I do suggest you GO! If you think she has lost her temper now, just wait. She can get really NASTY!" Phoebe tells Mark with anger in her voice.

"All right, all right. I'm leaving," Mark says as he holds his hands up in surrender, "Just let me know if she gets any better."

Phoebe holds down Piper's arms, so she does not freeze anything or anybody. "Easy, Piper. You don't want to do anything you'll regret here," Phoebe said as Piper fumed. You can practically see smoke coming out of her ears.

Mark left the room and walked down the corridor and after turning back around, and looking to make sure, he was not being followed or watched he slipped into a linen closet. He shut the door behind him and smiled wickedly as his eyes glowed a bright red.

* * *

Back in Rachel's bedroom, Piper and Phoebe were so angry, Phoebe threw the pitcher of water across the room, "WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS? THE NERVE OF HIM! How can he come into this hospital and think he will get back with Rachel, after what he has done to her? So help me if he comes anywhere near Rachel, I will...I will..." Phoebe tries to think of what to do when Piper cuts in.

"Uh, Phoebe, you don't have any active powers. Maybe you should leave that department up to me and Prue," Piper tells her, "Well, I certainly know what I would do. I will freeze his butt and kick him where the sun doesn't shine!"

Phoebe looks at Piper and quickly laughs at her, as she looks at the look Piper has on her face. Piper looks at Phoebe and realizes she is looking at her. "That's original," Phoebe says and laughs again.

"Well..." Piper begins as she starts laughing. "He won't know what hit him when I get through with him."

"Well, I certainly can't premonition him to death, but I can certainly give me a karate chop so hard that he'll think twice about trying to rape someone else," Phoebe answers back.

Then Piper starts laughing again at Phoebe's remark. "Boy, we make a great team, don't we," Piper says.

Phoebe smiles, but then turns and looks over to Rachel and her smile fades away and says, "No, WE all made a great team," Phoebe says sadly as a tear quickly falls down her face, "Piper, I want her back so bad! IF she leaves us we won't be the four musketeers anymore."

"Well, one thing is for sure, at least she would be with Grams, mom and Andy. I'm sure Andy we'll become fast friends with her," Piper tells her.

Phoebe turns to Piper with a hurt look on her face. "Piper! Why did you have to go and say that? SHE WILL NOT DIE! SHE JUST WON'T!" Phoebe raises her voice as she cries into her hands. Piper grabs Phoebe and hugs her tightly.


	11. Chapter 9: The Life & Death Of Rachel

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**The Life & Death Of Rachel  
**

* * *

The door of the linen closet opened and in walked the shift supervisor of the nursing staff, and noticed a man standing inside. "Excuse me, sir. You are not supposed to be in here. Can I help you?" The nurse asked, who looked a little peeved.

"Just sleep, my dear!" Mark said, as he looked deep into her eyes.

She dropped to the floor as Mark dissolved into a mist and entered his victim's body. As the nurse regained consciousness, she had a satisfied look on her face. Not the look of a healer, but the look of someone wanting revenge. She left the closet and wandered back into Rachel's room. Piper was standing in front of the window and looking out at the view of the ocean, still standing vigil as the nurse walks in.

"How is the patient?" The nurse asked.

Piper sighs, "No change, but we're always hopeful," Piper said still looking out the window, looking very tired and drained. She was up all night watching Rachel.

"There's always hope," The nurse said as she suddenly hit Piper on the back of her head knocking her unconscious as Piper fell to the floor.

The nurse walked over to Rachel's IV, reached into her pocket, and removed a small hypodermic needle. It contained enough relaxant to reduce Rachel's metabolism and kill her. She pulled off the cap, reached for the injector valve and inserted the needle.

A small hiss could be heard as the liquid went into the fluid that was dripping into Rachel's veins. She opened up the main valve so the entire contents entered her bloodstream.

She then squeezed the bag at the top to increase the pressure to flow faster into her bloodstream. After smiling wickedly and knowingly, she suddenly felt a sharp blow to her back and was knocked off her feet. Phoebe had flown through the door kicking her to the ground.

"HELP! Somebody HELP! We need help in here!" Phoebe screamed down the hall. She kicked the nurse again as she tried to stand back up, and then ran over to Piper. "Piper! Wake up, Piper!" Phoebe cried.

"What the HELL is going on here?" Dr. Sherman shouted as he ran in after hearing Phoebe's cries for help. The nurse got up and ran out of the room.

"Piper! Piper!" Phoebe shouted and turned toward the doctor, "Doctor, check that IV bag, it's been tampered with!"

"That's ridiculous. That nurse has been here 15 years. I don't see..." The doctor said as the heart monitor began beeping erratically. "CODE BLUE! STAT!" He yelled down the hall, "And get a nurse to help Miss Halliwell. She is unconscious. Hurry!"

"Oh, Rachel!" Phoebe cried turning back to Piper. "Piper, come on wake up, not you too!"

Another nurse came running in and helped Phoebe put Piper on the other bed next to Rachel.

"This should not be happening!" Dr. Sherman said, as he applied the heart medication, "Okay! CLEAR!"

As the paddles touched Rachel's skin a shot of electricity went through her heart to get it beating again, the heavy jolt made her jerk upwards and she fell back.

"AGAIN! CLEAR!" The doctor yelled.

Another jolt of electricity went through Rachel's body as she jerked and fell back. Phoebe watched as they were trying to save her, but it was not working. Each time they jolted her with the heart machine, Phoebe felt like she felt it herself as she cried even harder. She was losing her best friend.

The emergency team was working feverishly to save her when Phoebe suddenly saw Rachel's soul rise out of her body as she cried and prayed for it to return. Rachel looked down as they desperately tried to save her. She saw Phoebe, who was looking up at her as Phoebe watched as her soul disappears.

"Come back, please!" Phoebe said quietly.

* * *

On another plane, Rachel found herself standing in front of a great white light. She had no idea where she was or what she was supposed to do. She turned around as she looked into a bright light and saw a figure walking towards her.

She squinted at the bright light and shaded her eyes with her hand as the figure came into view, as a familiar voice was heard - it was Leo. She was confused as he began speaking to her.

"Rachel, it's not your time yet. You must return. The Halliwell's will need you," Leo said.

"Leo? What are you doing here? Are you dead too?" Rachel asked, confused.

"Neither of us are. Now go back to your life. People there love you very much and need you." Leo said.

"But...who...who are you..." She stammered as tears fell down her cheeks.

"That doesn't matter right now Rachel; the only thing that matters is that you need to be with your family. Yes Rachel, they are your family. They are the closest thing you have as a family," Leo said.

"But Leo, I have a family...well I guess I do consider Prue, Piper and Phoebe a part of my family, too, but I also have my parents. I still have my parents." Rachel told him as she began to become frightened as what he was going to say.

"I'm sorry, Rachel. They died in an automobile accident today while they were traveling. A drunk driver lost control and swerved into the lane your parents were in, and they overturned and careened over a cliff and their motor home exploded. I am so sorry Rachel. I didn't want to tell you like this, I'm sorry." Leo told her with pain in his eyes.

"WHAT?! NO! NO! THEY ARE NOT DEAD! THEY CAN'T BE!" Rachel shouted as she cried.

Leo could not let time slip by. He would not be able to save Rachel over a certain amount of time when the soul reaches this state. Therefore, he quickly tried to finish what he had to say to her to be able to save her.

"Phoebe, Prue and Piper love you as their own flesh and blood. This is not your time. Go be with them, they need you. You need them," Leo said as he raised his hand to her cheek and wiped away her tears.

Rachel began trembling as she cried when Leo extended his arms out to her and she slowly walked to him. He tenderly pulled her into a hug as she laid her head on his shoulder as a bright light surrounded the both of them.

Then an aura of white and yellow lights surrounded Rachel as she began to fade away. Then Rachel looked down as she gently floated back to her hospital room. The medical staff never stopped in trying to revive Rachel. They had been applying electrical shocks to get her heart re-started.

The spirit of Rachel could feel the pain inflicted by the electric shocks. Each new one penetrated every particle of her being. It was time to go home. As she floated down toward the real world, she felt another presence, as she became very frightened. From out of the mists of the evil plane came the Demon. He grabbed her soul tightly and they both headed for her body and the hospital.

Phoebe had her head in her hands as Piper sat beside Phoebe comforting her. She sensed something and looked up, then laid her head back down. Rachel and unfortunately, her ex-lover Mark, both came down into her body. Phoebe did not notice Mark entering her body as she was overcome with so much grief. Her lifeless form tensed and then began to breathe again.

"WE have a pulse!" The nurse said happily. "It's steady. Her blood pressure is coming back to normal."

"She's coming back!" Piper said as she squeezed Phoebe's hand.

"Ah, Piper. My hand needs some circulation back in it. Yes, she's back, but something is still wrong." Phoebe said quietly, but still excited enough that Rachel was back.

The doctor's and the nurses secured the room as well as Rachel. She was still asleep or pretending to be and was left with Piper and Phoebe.

"See she's sleeping so peacefully. How could anything be wrong?" Piper asked.

"Looks can be very deceiving. WE have found that out before Piper." Phoebe said.

"Let's just hope that's not true this time." Piper said.

Rachel opens her eyes for a moment and then closes them again and falls asleep. A few hours have gone by as Piper is reading a book when Phoebe stands up from her chair and stretches. "You want a soda? I'm parched!"

"Um, sure. I'll get it." Piper volunteered.

"No, no! You sit, and relax. I have some other business I have to take care of. Mother nature is calling me." Phoebe said.

"Hurry back!" Piper said.

Rachel opens her eyes a few minutes after Phoebe leaves as Piper notices and frantically gets up out of her chair. "Oh my gosh, Rachel. You are awake! Great, I will go get Pheebs. No better yet, I'll get a doctor or the nurse." Piper says. Rachel tries to get out of the bed as Piper tries to force her back under the covers. "No sweetie, you've got to stay in bed. You're still very weak after your ordeal."

Rachel was silent as she refused to stay in bed and threw the covers off and stood up. Her eyes were glowing a bright red as she smiled at Piper. She walked slowly toward her as Piper began backing up. Piper realized this was not Rachel right off the bat.

"Uh, Rachel...Rachel? Is that you? Are you in there?" Piper asked looking into her eyes, "You are not you! Okay. Hey, you know what?" Piper says as she is forced to back up away from her, her hands raised in front of her, waiting for the time to freeze her.

"PI…PER. HELP ME!" Rachel screamed through the control of the Demon.

Rachel grabbed Piper's arms and stared at Piper as she began getting really nervous as well as worried for Rachel. "Come on Rachel, you can fight this. Come back to us. We need you back. Whoever you are, you get away from Rachel. She's just an innocent; she's been through enough already."

The Demon was trying to control Rachel's voice and says to Piper, "I WANT YOU AND YOUR SISTERS POWERS! THE CHARMED ONES WILL BE NO MORE!" The Demon continues to back Piper into a corner.

"Get away from me you...you...you! Who are you anyway?" Piper stammers as she begins tripping over herself. "GET AWAY FROM ME! Oh boy!" Piper screamed as well as getting used to these kinds of things happening to her. She suddenly flashed back to the incident with Jeremy.

Rachel grabs Piper and forces her down on the floor as she hits her head on the hard floor as Rachel covers her mouth. She looks deep into Piper's eyes. The red glow becomes a red beam of light and stares deeper into her eyes. Piper's terror reaches a pitch as she feels her own life slipping away. Her body begins to go limp. The Demon is about to succeed in stealing Piper's soul too.

"Ahhh!" The Demon screams as Rachel is thrown off Piper and falls against the bed and onto the floor.

"Get away from my sister whoever you are!" Phoebe cried after she executes a perfect kick. "I'm so sorry Rachel, but I know that wasn't you."

"Ahhhhhhh!" Rachel cried out in pain.

Piper is starting to come back around. "Whoa! What was that? Thanks Pheebs for saving my butt, even though WE know that wasn't Rachel," Piper asked as she rubbed the back of her head, "Some Demon just tried to kill me Phoebe, that's certainly no news to me. Ever since we've received these powers every Demon in the world has been trying to kill us."

Phoebe and Piper watched as the Demon's essence quickly left Rachel's body. Not too sure of themselves, they laid Rachel back into the bed and called the nurse.

"Well, you know how Demons work nowadays; they use people to get what they want. So they're trying to use OUR best friend...OUR sister to do their dirty work." Phoebe said to Piper.

"Yes, but it's going to kill Rachel, and probably us, too, if we don't do something and try to figure this out." Piper answers back.

They were ready to cover for what really happened just as the nurse heard the commotion and walked in. "She woke up and cried out, but then blacked out again. I think she is in extreme pain. Can you give her some pain medication?" Piper asked.

"I must check with the doctor first," The nurse answers as she looks at Piper. "You look a little pale. Are you okay Miss Halliwell?"

"Well...I...I just tripped, and my head hit the floor pretty hard." Piper tells her.

"Let me see your head Miss Halliwell." The nurse says as she walks over to Piper and looks at her head.

"OUCH!" Piper cried.

"I'll have another nurse come in and bandage that up." She replied.

"Thanks, but I'm more worried about Rachel." Piper said.

"As before, she'll just have to come out of it herself. I will have the doctor come in to give her some pain medication. Keep her from moving and quiet her down." The nurse tells her as she leaves the room.

Phoebe turns to Piper and gives her a look, then runs out to the hallway and yells, "Quiet? Quiet? I can hold her down, but pain medication is the only thing that will keep her quiet!" Phoebe walks back into the room and looks at Piper. "We can't wait." Phoebe said looking worried.

"And just what are you planning to do, Dr. Halliwell?" Piper asked. Just then, Rachel began getting restless as she groaned in pain and started tossing and turning. "Oh no! Phoebe, we've got to do something!" Piper said as she ran to the bed to hold her. "Phoebe, she's going to pull her IV and all the other tubes and stitches out. We cannot wait around for the doctor to come. We have to do something quick!"

Phoebe began looking around the room, then walked back into the hallway and noticed a medical cart full of different medications. "That's it!"

"What's it?" Piper asked looking and wondering what Phoebe has in mind.

"Hold her while I get what she needs." Phoebe said.

Piper looked down at Rachel as she held one hand down on her shoulder with one hand and gently stroked her hair and whispered: "Oh Rachel, I wish this wasn't happening to you. Or to anyone else for that matter. We will help you sweetie, do not worry. We will get this Demon out of you. I promise." Piper told her as she kissed her on the forehead.

Phoebe snuck over to the cart wishing she had Prue's powers, which would be less noticeable, and wheeled the cart into the room. Piper watched as Phoebe picked up a syringe then a hypodermic needle and inserted the hypodermic needle into the syringe.

"Phoebe! Who do you think you are? Marcus Welby, M.D.?" Piper says looking astounded.

"Piper, don't worry. I know what I am doing. Don't have a cow!" Phoebe tells her.

Piper did a double take after that comment and says: "Thanks a lot Phoebe. Well, what do you expect; I have never seen you do this before. I did not even know you knew how to use those things. I thought you hated needles." Piper said.

"I do, Piper! But, we can't just stand around here waiting for the doctor to come, for all we know he's downstairs in the cafeteria munching on a doughnut." Phoebe says sarcastically. "Now be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate; I don't want to mess this up."

"Okay! Okay! Just hurry!" Piper tells her.

Phoebe looks at the labels on all the bottles of medications and carefully looked at each one. She saw the one she needed: 'Hydrocodone Sedative.' She took the bottle, inserted the hypodermic needle into the bottle, and turned it over as she pulled on the syringe as the fluid slowly entered the syringe tube. She then pulled the syringe out of the bottle and placed the bottle back on the cart. She tested it by tapping the needle and pushed a little fluid out as it squirted out.

"Okay Phoebe, tell me how in the world do you know how to do all this?" Piper asked, still looking astonished. Phoebe walked over to the bed as Piper held Rachel's arm down so Phoebe can give her the medicine.

"Well, being a witch taught me something about these things." Phoebe answered.

Phoebe, I think you watch too much TV, next thing you know there is going to me a TV show about modern-day witches. Then I know you'll be hooked on it." Piper comments.

"Okay Piper." Phoebe begins as she rolls up her sleeves. "I will need your help here. The only way, and the quickest way for this medicine to take effect is not in the arm."

"Well, where else are you supposed to stick the needle?" Piper asked.

"Where do you think, Piper? Her glutismaximus!" Phoebe said.

"Her what? English Phoebe, English." Piper says, getting annoyed.

Phoebe looks at Piper as if saying, 'You have got to be kidding' as she explains. "Piper? I cannot believe you. You know, her backside, derriere, buns, tush, fanny, posterior, bottom, hindquarters, rump, behind, rear-end, buttocks, her a..."

Piper quickly cuts her off before she can say the last word. "Okay Phoebe, I get the picture. While we are standing here not doing anything, something could happen to Rachel...and possibly US. Let's just get this over with, Pheebs."

"Okay! Okay! Don't go over the deep end, now." Phoebe tells her.

Piper gives her an annoyed look and says, "Just looking at that big needle is making me nauseated as it is. I hate needles! And I know you hate needles just as much."

Phoebe holds up the needle ready to inject it into Rachel as Piper looks at the needle herself, begins to get a terrible taste in her mouth, and looks away for a moment.

"How can you even hold it yourself, let alone sticking Rachel with it?" Piper asks.

Suddenly, Rachel begins groaning again, this time it was the Demon's groan; it was a low-pitched monstrous groan as she began to go into minor convulsions.

"Piper, I can't stand holding this needle let alone sticking Rachel with it. We have no choice, Piper. We have to hurry before the doctor walks in. This is the only way to keep her quiet and asleep so we can figure out what to do next. Keep her still and turn her over Piper." Phoebe tells her.

Piper pulls the covers off and gently turns Rachel on her side and pulls up the back of her hospital gown. "Do it quick Phoebe." Piper said, "I don't like doing this as much as Rachel doesn't like getting stuck with a needle."

"Okay! Okay! You know this is going to hurt me more than it is going to hurt you. I am sorry, but I have to. I'm doing this because I love you, so here it goes." Phoebe said.

Piper quickly stops Phoebe. "OH WAIT! Phoebe, aren't you supposed to rub alcohol on the area you're injecting the needle in." Piper reminds her.

"Piper? Have YOU done this before?" Phoebe wonders looking shocked.

"Well, I've watched enough ER and Chicago Hope to know that." Piper tells her.

"Oh brother." Phoebe says rolling her eyes, thinking to herself. She cannot believe she forgot about the alcohol.

Piper could not believe Phoebe did not even remember to do that if she knows so much about giving injections.

Phoebe goes to the cabinet and looks for alcohol and a cotton ball. She opens the alcohol and pours a little on the cotton ball, then closes the bottle and walks back. Phoebe then rubs the alcohol on her, and then quickly injects the needle.

Rachel jerks and groans as Phoebe has a pained look on her face as if saying, 'Oh, I'm sorry Rachel, but it is for your own safety, as well for our safety' and then pushes the syringe as the fluid quickly disappears.

She places the cotton ball full of alcohol on the end of the needle that is inserted and holds it onto her skin as she takes the needle out, then rubs the rest of the alcohol soaked cotton ball on the skin.

"Phoebe is it over!" Piper says as Phoebe looks at her and notices she has her eyes closed.

"Yes, Piper, you can look now. It is over. Geez Piper, even though I hate needles as well as you do, I am surprised you have to close your eyes. You were not the one getting the shot. Rachel was and she did not even realize it. You're funny." Phoebe says.

Piper then tucks Rachel's hospital gown back down and gently laid her back down. She pulls the covers back over her and tucks her in as Rachel groans as she turns on her side and quickly falls asleep. Piper lets out a big sigh, hoping this is going to help.

Phoebe throws the syringe into the sanitized wastebasket then turns and looks over to Rachel, who is sleeping soundly and sighs. She walks to Rachel's bedside, sits down, and looks at her as she gently brushes the side of her face and says. "God Piper, why is this happening to Rachel? Why is that when any friend of ours or loved one gets near us something always has to happen to them? Someone is either killed or even hurt by some nasty warlock or Demon, just because they want our powers. Sometimes I actually think we should just give it to them so we can stop hurting those we love."

Piper walks over to Phoebe and gives her a sisterly hug and whispers. "I don't know Pheebs; I just don't know. I know you. You like being a witch. Remember, it's in our blood." Piper felt Phoebe's tears falling on her neck as she gives Phoebe a squeeze. "I love you Pheebs."

"I love you, too, Piper." Phoebe says as she shuts her eyes tightly and gives Piper an extra squeeze.

Prue is about to walk through the door when she sees her sisters hugging each other as she looks at them and smiles and says, "Hey you guys, you got one of those for me, too." Phoebe and Piper almost run up to Prue as they all embrace each other. "Hey, you know I think Rachel will be okay. She has three sisters that love her and will do everything they can to protect her," Prue tells them.

"Yes. Well, we haven't done too well with protecting her, look whom she fell in love with…an abusive boyfriend named Mark," Phoebe tells Prue.

"I think it's time we try to think about what or how we will vanquish this Demon, but we don't even know what kind of Demon it is," Piper says.

"Well, I was at the manor looking through The Book of Shadows, and I couldn't find anything. I do not even know what to look for. We don't even know what it looks like." Prue says as she throws her hands in the air.

Phoebe hears Rachel moaning and notices she is having minor convulsions. Phoebe walks over to Rachel and places her hand on her forehead.

"Prue, Piper, she's burning up. Piper, you don't think I gave her the wrong medication?" Phoebe quickly says as she walks to the medical cart and looks for the bottle she used. "Oh no! Piper. The nurse must have been in here she must have picked up some bottles of medication. Now I don't know whether I gave her the right medication or not." Phoebe puts her face in her hands and cries.

"You what? Phoebe, you gave Rachel medication. Why? How did...never mind...I do not want to know. I can't believe you did that!" Prue tells her.

"Prue, I was trying to give her a sedative that also helps to prevent pain so she could sleep and it would prevent the Demon from taking her over." Phoebe cried out.

"Okay, guys. This is not the time to get into this now. Prue, Phoebe was just trying to help, do not get mad at her. I even helped, so get mad at me." Piper says to Prue.

"No. I should not be mad at anybody. I am sorry. You were just trying to help Pheebs. That is all that matters. I'm sure Rachel will be okay, let's keep a cool rag on her forehead to bring down the fever." Prue says as she walks to the sink. She grabs a towel, drenches it, and then rings it out a little. Then goes over to Rachel and places it on her forehead as she gently pats down her face and neck.

Phoebe thinks for a moment then races out of the room as Piper notices, sighs out a long sigh. "Prue, I think Phoebe is really scared for Rachel. I've never seen her like this before." Piper tells her.

"Piper, she'll be okay. She is strong." Prue says as Phoebe walks back in.

"Phoebe, I thought..." Piper begins as Phoebe cuts her off.

"I just went to get some ice chips for Rachel." Phoebe says.

"Oh! I thought you were really upset, that's why you had raced out like you did." Piper says.

"I am upset, more angry than upset." Phoebe answers.

Phoebe walks over to Rachel, takes an ice chip, places it on her lips, rubs it around her lips as the ice melts, and falls down through her mouth. Then she places some ice chips in a towel and places the towel on her neck and forehead.

"Well, well. Do we have a doctor in our family or what?" Prue suggests to Piper.

"I just know ways of bringing down a fever, Prue." Phoebe says.

"Yes, and apparently how to administer medication when needed." Prue answers back.

Rachel stirs a bit and groans as Phoebe places a few ice chips into her mouth under her tongue so she does not choke on it. Phoebe notices she is beginning to suck on the ice chips. "Hey guys, look. This is a good sign; she is sucking on the ice. She is still really out of it, but at least she will not wake up. At least she can still feel things even though she unconscious." Phoebe tells them.

* * *

About a half hour later, Piper checks on Rachel, feels her forehead again, and realizes her fever is almost gone. She goes to the sink, soaks it again with cold water, pats her face, neck and forehead down some more, and gives her some more ice chips.

Phoebe starts pacing back and forth anxiously awaiting for the doctor to come walking through the door. "When is that damn doctor coming? I could have walked all the way down Melrose Place and back by now." Phoebe tells Piper.

"Don't worry Pheebs; I'm sure he's on his way." Piper frowns a bit and thinks and says, "Phoebe, I think you meant to say, Melrose Avenue."

"Well, whatever. I don't even know why I said that in the first place." Phoebe tells her.

* * *

The doctor does not come in for at least another hour. When he does, he finds Rachel sleeping peacefully as he looks toward Prue, Piper and Phoebe, then back to the nurse, "I don't think this patient needs anymore medication. Just keep an eye on her." He told the nurse.

"Yes, doctor." The nurse answered back as she gave Piper and Phoebe a strange look for having to disturb the doctor for nothing.

Piper, Prue and Phoebe just looked at each other and smiled knowingly.


	12. Chapter 10: You Are Never Alone

**DISCLAIMER**: I don't own the characters of Charmed, Aaron Spelling & Constance M. Burge do.

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**You Are Never Alone**

* * *

Later, the next morning, Prue had the early morning watch. Rachel had slept through the night and Prue was sound asleep next to her. She slept peacefully in the overstuffed chair usually used by the patients.

She was dreaming that she was at home, as she walked down the stairs. The sun was out, and it was a beautiful morning. Piper, Phoebe and Rachel were chatting away at the kitchen table.

Prue made a joke and poured herself a cup of coffee. Its aroma was so vivid that she woke up, just barely, to see Piper standing there with a hot cup of freshly brewed coffee.

"Morning, sleepyhead!" Piper said to Prue, "How's our little patient?"

"Fine, I guess. Not a stir all night!" Prue said stretching as she noticed Phoebe standing behind Piper with Owen.

"Hey sis! Have we got a surprise for you!" Phoebe said as she smiled.

Owen stood next to her with his arm around Phoebe's shoulder, as they both moved away from the front of the doorway to the side.

"Oh?" Prue said as enthused as she could get this early.

"Prue," said a tall dark man looking around the corner of the door.

Prue was still a little fuzzy from just waking up as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she shielded her eyes from the bright lights of the room. "Who is that?" Prue said trying to focus her eyes, then squinted and looked again, "Bane? Is that you?" Prue said as she smiled a big smile.

"In the flesh, baby. I went state's evidence against some unsavory characters in exchange for them springing me. And the first thing I thought of was you! So I called Phoebe, and well...here I am, to stay if you'll have me," Bane said grabbing onto her.

"OF COURSE..." Prue said.

Bane interrupted her train of thought as he pulled her into a dip and gave her a long passionate kiss. Everybody watched and waited for them to come up for air, when Owen decided to take this chance as well. He grabbed Phoebe and pulled her into a deep long passionate kiss. Piper watched the whole scene and felt left out because Leo was not with her.

"Ah you guys, come on now! You have to breathe eventually. Besides, this is all making me feel a little left out here," Piper told them.

Phoebe and Owen finally come up for air as Phoebe looked into Owen's eyes and looked as though she were ready to faint out of pure delight.

"WOW! You've never kissed me like that before," Phoebe said to Owen a little out of breath.

"Well, maybe I should do that more often then," Owen said, feeling a little out of breath himself.

Prue and Bane finally decided to come up for air as they pulled away from each other as Piper said, "Well, nice of you to join our little group. Are you satisfied now, Prue?"

"Most definitely. Oooh, I'm so glad you're out," Prue said licking her lips and started breathing normally again.

"Well that makes three happy things today. Rachel's awake…" Phoebe stops and looks toward Rachel and sees her sleeping peacefully, then continues, "Well, sort of awake, and Bane and Owen both stopped by and we can all try to be together again," chimed in Phoebe.

"Whoa! Three sisters, three guys. Just like magic," Piper says then thinks for a second, "Oops, bad choice of words. Let's just hope we can get Rachel hitched up, too." Piper said in an energetic mood, "You know, wouldn't it be funny when we all do get married, we should have a quadruple marriage. You know, 'Friends 'till the end.' We would all go on our honeymoons together, and then we can live in our dream houses with white picket fences and everything. Wouldn't that be something?"

"Well, Prue, Bane, Piper you guys can go away now; Owen and I will watch sleeping beauty here. Besides, we have a lot to talk about. Now you two scoot. And Piper, go find Leo. Bye!" Phoebe said waving them out the door.

"So long Pheebs," Piper said giving Phoebe a kiss.

"Bye," Prue said dreamily as she walked out with Bane on her arm.

"Whew! I thought they would never leave. Well, alone as last!" Owen said as he slowly began leaning in to kiss Phoebe as she put her arms around his neck.

"Yep!" Phoebe said as they almost touched lips when Rachel decided to wake up.

"Ahhh...who...ah...where am I?" Rachel asked groggily, somewhat in pain.

"Well, it looks like we're not that alone!" Phoebe said to Owen as she turned around, "Hey! Rachel, you are awake. Do you know what happened?" Phoebe asked stroking her hair.

"Ah, in the hospital? I remember doing some really terrible and scary things," Rachel said confused, "Did I try to kill Piper?" she asked with a scared look on her face.

"Ah...uh...um...no. It must have been just a nightmare. You've been in pretty bad shape since you got in here, Rachel," Phoebe said a little nervous. Owen did not know about them and their witchy world and Phoebe wanted to keep it that way for now.

"Dream? But...but, it seemed so real. What is going on? What is wrong with me? What do the doctors say?" Rachel asked.

"Just that you need to recover. The worst part was that you had to wake up on your own, and you did that!" Phoebe said overjoyed as she hugged her.

"OUCH! Oooh Phoebe, take it easy. I love you too, but don't hug too hard, my stomach and chest still hurt," Rachel told her.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm just so glad you're awake, I guess I shouldn't have squeezed so hard," Phoebe said.

"Yes, I'm awake. But, I don't feel like I'm all here, yet!" Rachel said, still confused.

"Believe me you are. Now get some sleep. I need to call Piper and Prue with the good news," Phoebe says and turns to leave, when she turns back around, "Oh Rachel, you remember Owen, right," Phoebe says as she left.

"Hi, Rachel. Hope you feel better soon," Owen said quietly.

"Thanks. I am so tired. Goodbye Pheebs," Rachel said, carefully turning over on her side as she groaned in pain.

Phoebe winced at hearing her in pain and says, "Sleep tight Rachel. Love you."

"Uh-huh," was all Rachel could say.

* * *

Later that night, Rachel was sitting up as Prue was there helping her to eat her dinner. She could not feed herself because her arms were just too stiff and sore to raise, and she was being stubborn about eating.

"Prue, this is the worst food I've ever had, come on. You try it and see what you think," Rachel said as she scrunched up her nose and turned her head away.

"Hey you, you need your strength. You have to eat this, even if it is terrible. Here at least eat the pudding," Prue said as she took a spoonful and tried it herself.

Trying not to show it, Prue did not really like the pudding. Prue thought to herself, 'This is the worst banana pudding I ever had. Grams made better banana pudding than this stuff. Yuck.' Nevertheless, she took another spoonful and put it to Rachel's mouth.

"Prue! Stop it! I am not a little kid anymore. You cannot force me to eat that...that...whatever THAT is! YUCK!" Rachel told her

"Oooh! You are such a little baby! You know, did I ever tell you that we took care of an abandon baby last year," Prue began trying to be careful as to not say too much, "Boy oh boy, he wouldn't stop crying. But in the end he was such a good little baby and we were almost afraid to give him back when his mother took him back," Prue tells her.

"Well, that's good for you. You're practicing, so when you have a child of your own you can feed it yucky food," Rachel says as she suddenly yawned.

Prue almost gets a spoonful of pudding in her mouth, but Rachel closes her mouth just in time and misses and ends up all over Rachel's face and says, "Oh you! You are so stubborn! You are so like Phoebe. If you were not in that hospital bed already hurt, I would put you over my knee for being so stubborn! Then I'd turn you back around and force-feed you this food."

Rachel looks back at Prue shocked she would even try, then gives her a funny look, and says, "Oh, you would huh? Well, I'd like to see you try it."

Prue cannot help but laugh at her face. Then Rachel laughs then suddenly groans in pain, "Oh! Ow! Stop it Prue! Stop making me laugh, it hurts too much."

Prue tries to stop laughing, begins to wipe the pudding off Rachel's face, and says, "How are you going to get your strength back if you don't eat something?"

Rachel scrunched her nose up and looked at Prue. Prue looked at Rachel and had a look of 'I give up' as she collapsed back into the chair. An hour later, Prue and Rachel had been talking about old times and Prue brought her up-to-date about what is going on, except for the Demon stuff.

"I'm so glad to have you here Prue. I do not know what I would do without you. Even if you're a pain in the butt by trying to be all motherly to me," Rachel said.

"Well, if you weren't with us, you might not have fallen down our stairs. However, that could have happened to anyone. Phoebe should be by soon," Prue said as Phoebe suddenly walked into the room.

"Hey Rachel. How is the patient tonight? You do look good," Phoebe said with a big smile.

"Well, speak of the devil." Prue said.

"Hey, watch it! We're supposed to be angels around here, remember." Phoebe said giving Prue a cute look.

"You sure are MY angels!" Rachel said.

"Well, I'm sure not Della Reese," Prue says jokingly.

Phoebe laughs at that comment. "Anytime!" Phoebe answered as she takes a hold of Rachel's hand when suddenly she is jerked into a premonition. She saw something coming through the wall and attacking Rachel.

"Pheebs? What is it?" Prue asked.

"Phoebe? What happened?" Rachel asked looking concerned.

"Over there!" Phoebe said pointing to the far wall and whispers to Prue, "Wicky thing!"

Prue stood in front of Rachel to try to protect her as much as she can while Rachel watched in confusion.

"Where's Piper when we need her?" Phoebe asked as she started to tremble.

* * *

Ratus came through the wall knowing to knock Prue to the ground first. Phoebe tried to use her karate on him, but he threw her to the ground before she could. "If I can't get you, I'll hurt you." Ratus said as he fired a red bolt of lightning at Rachel. She cried out in pain as electricity spread throughout her entire body and went into immediate and fast convulsions then suddenly went completely limp as steam rose from Rachel and the bed.

"RACHEL!" Phoebe cried out from the floor. Prue was out cold. Ratus laughed evilly and disappeared through the same wall.

The floor nurse heard all the commotion and ran into the room. "What in the hell happened in here?" The nurse ran over to Rachel and checked the monitors and then her vitals. Then she ran out to the hallway and yelled out, "CODE BLUE! STAT!"

Rachel was in bad shape as two other emergency medical technicians helped Prue and Phoebe. Phoebe was only sore, but Prue had a whopper of a headache.

Prue held her head and groaned in pain. "I've got to be on my guard better than this. He shouldn't have done that to me!" Prue whispered to Phoebe who was mad as hell at herself.

"Rachel is really bad off this time. She looks really badly burned, and she must have many internal injuries. Prue! She took that full charge at close range," Phoebe whispered back to Prue in a panic.

Dr. Sherman walked into the room just then hearing the last bit of their conversation. "Took what?" Dr. Sherman asked as he began checking on Rachel, "She has all the symptoms of a high voltage shock from a major power station. There is not anything more than 220 volts in this room. Care to tell me about what happened?"

Phoebe laughed nervously, "Ha! Ha! We were knocked out, too. Your guess is as good as mine."

"We can treat her for her burns, but if we knew what happened, we could help her more," Dr. Sherman said.

"Do your best. We know you will," Prue said. "Can we go now?"

"Yes. But keep in touch," Dr. Sherman said to them.

"Thanks!" Prue said.

Phoebe quickly turned to Prue. "Leave Rachel? Prue! We cannot leave Rachel now! Not now! She is in mortal danger. We're supposed to protect her, we can't just..."

Prue interrupted and grabbed Phoebe by the arm. "We HAVE to get home!" Prue said.

* * *

Later, back at the Manor, Prue, Phoebe and Piper stood around The Book of Shadows looking through it intensely.

"Someone or something is definitely after us, or Rachel, or all four of us," Prue said with concern in her voice.

"Rachel has been mad at us before, but her eyes never glowed red. That's a Demon or warlock trait if I ever saw one," Piper suggested then thought for a second, "Wait, I did see her eyes like that before, it was a few months ago. Remember Pheebs, you were taking a nap and I came in carrying a couple of trays of food up to you guys and saw Rachel, or should I say something hovering over you trying to do something to you, until I froze her remember?"

"Yeah, I do remember that. Hey guys! I could not agree more, but without a name, a face, or a style we cannot identify him or her. I can come up with a general protection spell, but that might not last, or the evil thing might be so powerful that it might not even work," Phoebe explained with her witchy common sense.

"Can't we come up with a name somehow? We are witches, and we should be able to do most anything at least in protecting the innocent," Piper said.

"Let me see. Nothing to call up a Demon's name, just to summon him. IF we can vanquish him, bringing him here probably is not such a good idea. I guess it is spell writing time. Calling up his name should not be too hard. Let me sleep on it guys and we will do something about it tomorrow. Okay?" Phoebe said smiling.

"Think hard but don't strain the old noodle," Piper said knocking on Phoebe's head.

"We HAVE to get Rachel out of this vicious Demon circle," Prue said looking a little unsure, "Goodnight, Pheebs!"

"Night guys!" Phoebe said as she sat down with The Book of Shadows trying to get some ideas. The edge of her lip turned up, and she sat there with a perplexed expression.

"This witch stuff isn't as easy as I thought!" Phoebe said to herself.

* * *

The next morning, Prue, Piper and Phoebe were gathered around Rachel's bedside watching her as she slowly woke up. At first, she could not make out who they were she was still out of it from all the drugs they were pumping into her. Then slowly she could see who it was as she tried to smile.

"Hi, Prue, Piper, Phoebe. I'm sorry I'm so much trouble to you," Rachel said very weakly.

"Hey, I don't think you wanted to be here," Phoebe said.

"Unless you like these air conditioned gowns. It really doesn't do anything for you, you know," Piper quipped as she laughed.

Rachel tried to laugh when she began to cough which made her groan in pain, "OW! OHHHH!"

Prue and Phoebe chuckled at the comment. "Don't laugh; you're going to hurt yourself. You just lie there and get better. We want you to come home," Prue said.

Phoebe and Piper looked funny at her at that last remark since Prue had been the least happy about her moving in. However, knew that was not the case anymore.

"Thanks," Rachel said. Suddenly, Rachel began groaning in pain as she began coughing.

"Are you okay?" Phoebe asked.

Rachel continued to cough as Phoebe grabbed a glass, poured some water, and handed it to her. She drank some water, but kept coughing. Prue left the room to get the nurse. Rachel started to groan in pain again and began coughing up blood.

Piper quickly grabbed the bowl used for when someone is throwing up, but in this case...coughing up blood.

Phoebe had a terrified look on her face as the nurse came in to see what was wrong. Prue, Phoebe and Piper all backed off away from the bed and watched with concern as the nurse grabs a syringe and a hypodermic needle and fills it with medication.

"Oh no! Not again," Phoebe whispers to Piper, "If Rachel sees that needle she will go berserk."

"Prue, come on let's get on the other side of the bed and distract her," Piper tells her.

They walk around the bed, as the nurse looks at them as if they are all crazy. Suddenly the nurse hears over the intercom that she is being paged. She sets down the syringe and leaves the room. "I'll be right back. Make sure she doesn't move," the nurse tells them.

Quickly, Phoebe picks up the syringe, and grabs the alcohol and cotton ball. Prue and Piper start talking to Rachel to try to distract her. Even though she is still a little groggy, she wonders what is going on.

'Boy, it's a good thing she's already laying on her side,' Phoebe thinks to herself. When Phoebe is ready, Prue and Piper grab a hold of her as if hugging her.

"What's going on? Why are you holding me so tight?" Rachel wonders sounding confused.

"Well...uh...we don't want you to fall off the bed," Prue tries to answer, but knows she is lying to her.

Rachel starts to turn around when Prue looks to Piper and gives her the witchy signal, and then Piper quickly freezes Rachel.

"That was a good idea," Prue said.

Phoebe rubs the alcohol soaked cotton ball and injects the needle into her as the medicine quickly disappears. "Okay, done. Get back to where you were quick!" Phoebe says.

Suddenly Rachel unfreezes. "OUCH! Something bit me in my butt. Don't tell me his hospital has bugs that bite!" Rachel yells as she turns and rubs herself as she lies back down.

Phoebe, Prue and Piper laughs at Rachel just as the nurse comes back into the room. "Oh, nurse it is okay, another nurse came in and gave her the medicine," Phoebe told her.

"Okay. Just make sure she stays comfortable and don't stay too much longer, she needs her rest." The nurse said as she leaves.

Phoebe gives Piper a wink to freeze Rachel again so they can get this over with. Piper turns to Phoebe and jokingly says, "Now what, Samantha Stevens?"

"Okay. We need a piece of her clothing," Phoebe says.

Piper looks inside the closet to find her clothes. She thinks maybe something small, like an undergarment. 'Ah no, too personal,' Piper thinks. Then she sees her socks and picks it up.

"Oooh boy, good thing she's in the hospital in a sterile room, because she must have had smelly feet," Piper says pinching her nose closed.

"Okay, well her sock will have to do. Some jasmine and sassafras root mixed with sunflower oil sprinkled on it. Then we lay the ingredients on top of...our frozen friend here with a piece of paper," Phoebe explained.

"Sounds simple enough. Quickly though, before someone comes in," Prue says.

_"Through time and space, without form or end, _

_Help us remove the pain of our friend, _

_Demon who taunts her, as some sick game, _

_Spirits of nature reveal his name."_

The paper began to rustle. A strange type of writing started to appear. The line went up, down and around and then out again.

The paper began to rustle. A strange type of writing started to appear. The line went up, down and around and then out again.

"R," Phoebe said.

The writing continued. "A," Prue said.

The next letter appeared. "T," Piper said, "He's a rat? But we already know that. Hey that rhymed," Piper said as she smiled.

"Piper!" Phoebe said slapping Piper in the arm.

"Hey!" Piper said.

"Shush. Look..." Phoebe pointed, "U."

"S," Prue said. Then the writing stopped.

"Ratus? Sound familiar, Pheebs?" Piper asked.

"No, and I know most of the names in the book by now," Phoebe said.

"You should be able to recite the Book by now, Phoebe. Oh boy, poor Rachel. We just have to wait until he returns. I am not leaving her side. She looks as helpless as a baby does. She cannot take another blow like that. How can we protect her?" Piper asked.

"With The Power of Three! That is the only way. He wants to get us badly, and he will be back to kill us. We will just have to stick like glue to Rachel for good now. All three of us need to take care of her now," Phoebe said.

"Yes, all three of us," Prue said as they put their hands together.

Prue, Piper and Phoebe waited beside Rachel's bed. She is in the Intensive Care Unit all wrapped up due to the electrical burns. Her monitors and IV's have doubled since the attack. Prue, Phoebe and Piper are so scared for her.

Phoebe looked over to Prue with tears running down her face and says, "Prue, you were right. We should have NEVER subjected Rachel to our problems. Just look at her."

"I don't know what I'll do if we lose HER," Piper said with tears running down her face.

"Piper, I got through Andy, but this will be as bad as losing one of you two!" Prue said softly but with defiance.

"I haven't felt like this since Piper was lying there like that!" Phoebe said.

"Well I got through it and so will RACHEL!" Piper said.

"But with all those bruises and the burns! The doctor doesn't give her much hope!" Phoebe says as Prue and Piper walk to her and give her a hug together.

* * *

Another day came and went as Rachel came in and out of it. At one point, she was calling for her parents and other times she was calling for Prue, Piper or Phoebe. Rachel began to toss and turn a bit and groaned as Phoebe heard this and got up from the chair and stood by her bed.

She noticed tears running down her cheek as she carefully wiped her tears away trying not to wake her up, when suddenly she jerks into what seems like a premonition, but finds herself in Rachel's mind.

Phoebe is standing inside a thick layer of fog as she can hear in the distance some soft beautiful music playing and can hear two people talking to each other. Phoebe walks around in a daze not knowing what is going on when she slowly walks through the thick fog as it suddenly disappears.

She squints as she notices now she is sitting at a table in the back of a motor home. 'WOW! This is a beautiful motor home.' Phoebe thinks. She notices two people in the front seat talking to one another. They seem very happy and very much in love with one another. Then she realizes its Rachel's parents.

'Why am I seeing this? What does any of this mean?' Phoebe thinks to herself.

As she watches Rachel's father laughing and smiling as he drives down the highway she smiles and notices how handsome he is. She looks to Rachel's mother; she can tell how happy and content she is. 'I can sure see why they like traveling so much, it's beautiful out there. I wonder where they're going.' Phoebe wonders.

Then she began to hear more of the conversation as if someone turned up the volume on a radio. They were talking about Rachel.

"Oh, David, I wish Rachel could have come with us this time. I know she would have loved to travel with us," Erin told her husband.

"Yes, so do I, but she seems to want a career as a teacher. And why not? She's taking after her old man," David says.

"Hey, don't forget about her old lady," Erin says laughing.

"Well, at least she's in San Francisco right now. She's probably already bumped into her friends already," David said.

"You remember the Halliwell sisters, don't you? Rachel met Phoebe first when they were in the 5th grade, remember. I certainly remember, I think that was the day when Rachel asked me if she could go to the rock concert with some friends, and I told her she was much too young to see that kind of a rock group and she got really mad at me and ran off." Erin remembers.

'Oh boy, do I remember that day," Phoebe chuckles thinking about it.

"Rachel told me later that she met this other student named Phoebe who was a rambunctious girl and that she got into trouble a lot," David remembers.

'Hey! I wasn't that bad,' Phoebe thought, 'Was I?'

"I remember noticing Rachel was really jealous of Phoebe and started making trouble for her. But after a while, they got used to each other, and started becoming friends." Erin tells him.

"They really stuck together like glue when she went to high school with them. You remember all those slumber parties that Rachel gave...and all that food, ahh! I thought I would be sick just watching them eat all that junk food," David says chuckling.

"Yes, I do remember that. Remember, we could not sleep ourselves. They were up all night watching movies, eating popcorn, ice cream. Oh, and all that candy. UGH! I am surprised they did not get any cavities. Do you remember all those horror movies they saw together? I am surprised they had not had any nightmares after those movies. All those vampires, witches and demon movies," Erin says as a chill runs down her spine.

Phoebe just waves that one off, knowing how much she and her sisters are used to those kinds of monsters now.

"How do teenagers do it? When we were kids, the only horror movie I saw was that one with Vincent Price in 'The House of Wax.' I think that is what it was called. I had nightmares for months after that. That's a mild horror movie compared to today's horror movies."

"Well, at least Rachel and her friends won't have to worry about monsters anymore," David told her.

'Well, not really,' Phoebe thought to herself. Phoebe still could not understand why she was seeing this. This was the longest experience she has ever had. Her powers must be progressing further from premonitions into going into someone's dreams. Then all of a sudden, she happens to look out the front window and notices a car coming from the opposite direction, and it looks as though it is swerving back and forth.

She notices David and Erin engaged in their conversation as he continues to drive and watches the road as he looks to his wife now and again. However, he does not notice that swerving car. Phoebe races up to the front of the motor home.

"Hey! You guys, watch that car!" Phoebe yells to them.

David and Erin cannot hear her as they continue their conversation. Phoebe can still hear the music playing in the background, when she realizes something is going to happen. She does not know what to do. Phoebe tries to wake herself up, but apparently, there is a reason for her being there. Phoebe is terrified as she sees the car getting closer.

Then and only then, Erin notices the car and yells to her husband, "DAVID! LOOK OUT!"

David quickly turns the steering wheel to the right, then to the left as the motor home is squealing on its left side.

Phoebe is terrified to no end that she cannot get out of this dream.

As the motor home topples to the right and left, David cannot seem to get control as Phoebe watches in horror as well as experiencing it herself, as she hears Rachel's parents scream in horror.

"OH GOD! PLEASE!" David yells in fright.

"OH MY GOD! DAVID!" Erin quickly yells as she grabs onto her husband.

David cannot hold on any longer as he lets it go and grabs his wife in an embrace. They shut their eyes tightly and hang onto each other as the motor home dives off the highway and down the cliff as Phoebe hears them both gasp and call out to Rachel, "RACHEL, WE LOVE YOU!"

Phoebe then was suddenly lifted from the motor home before it dove off the cliff, but watched as it crashed and tumbled repeatedly until it hit the rocks below, when it exploded into a fiery inferno. Phoebe gasped in horror as tears fell down her face when she suddenly flashed to another dream.

She saw Leo, standing in front of Rachel talking to her. 'Oh no! She knows about Leo. That would mean...' Phoebe cut herself off.

Phoebe could hear what Leo was saying to her. He was trying to save her. 'Leo must have been the one who saved Rachel the first time,' Phoebe thought.

Then she heard Leo telling Rachel that Prue, Phoebe and Piper needed her, and that is why he was there to bring her back. Leo told her how much they loved her and that they were the only ones close enough to a family.

Nevertheless, Rachel had said that she had a family, her parents. Then she saw Leo shut his eyes and put his head down, then said to her that her parents had died in a car crash. That is when she saw Rachel break down in tears as Leo held her up, wiped away her tears, and heard him say that that is why she was needed. Because she was loved by friends who loved her like a sister.

It was then that Phoebe was thrown into a tenser premonition and saw the Demon Ratus coming back. As she came out of the premonition, she could hear Piper calling her name.

"Phoebe? Phoebe? Pheebs? Are you okay?" Piper asked as Phoebe collapsed in her arms.

"Quick! HE'S coming back for Rachel AND for us!" Phoebe barely said.

Suddenly, a portal opened above Rachel's bed as they all looked up to the ceiling. In came the Demon Ratus in his full glory. He was all red with horns, and covered in red slime.

"Now, you Halliwell witches, you will d..." was all he said as Piper froze him.

"Great, sis. Now let us say this together!" Phoebe said.

_The power of three will set you free! _

_The power of three will set you free! _

_The power of three will set you free! _

_The power of three will set you free! _

_The power of three will set you free!_

After the exhausting efforts, the Demon began to melt. The slime revealed rotting flesh underneath and the smell was horrendous.

"NO! YOU WITCHES WILL PAY! NO!" he cried as he fell back into the vortex and disappeared. The smell remained as they all sighed as they held their noses.

"UGH! Not only was he tough, but he was definitely septic tank material," quipped Piper with a ducky voice as she held her nose.

"Good one fellow sister witches! WE saved our butts as well as Rachel's, too, Excellent vanquishing!" Phoebe said.

"Absolutely!" Prue agreed as she hugged her sisters.

Phoebe broke away from the hug. "Hey, you guys. When I heard Rachel groaning before I went to her and noticed her crying in her sleep. As I carefully wiped her tears off her face, I was thrown into her dream."

"You're kidding!? Phoebe, do you know what that means, your power of premonition is progressing. You had better be careful with this now. It is going to mean you can get into people's dreams. And people dream some weird dreams as well as nightmares," Prue told her.

"Well, Rachel's dream WAS a nightmare. I saw both of her parents die in a car crash. It was terrifying, too. They were talking about Rachel right before it happened. They said they wished that Rachel could have been traveling with them. They also were remembering those slumber parties that we all had together in high school. Prue, Piper, they were so happy and smiling and talking about Rachel and they were listening to some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard. Then that is when it happened. I saw a car swerving on the other side of the road. It was a drunk driver." Phoebe explained.

"OH NO!" Piper exclaimed.

"Yes, and I felt as though I were living it myself, but then I was suddenly lifted out of the motor home and I watched the motor home dive over the cliff and onto the rocks below. Then it exploded in a huge flame. I almost could feel the hot fire on my skin. Just as it felt when we went into the future and I was being burned at the stake, remember," Phoebe continued.

"Oh, we remember that all too well," Prue said.

"That's when I was thrown into another dream. In this dream Leo was there talking to Rachel," Phoebe said, as Piper looked shocked.

"WHAT! Oh no! You don't think Leo told her that he's a Whitelighter and that we're witches," Piper said quickly.

"I don't know, but then Leo was telling her that she was needed and loved and that this wasn't her time to die. She broke down crying as Leo wiped her tears and held her that is when I saw her disappear. That was when I saw Rachel's soul returning into her body when she almost died. I was wondering how she was able to come back to us." Phoebe said.

"Why didn't Leo tell us that he saved her the first time?" Piper wondered.

"I don't know, you'd have to ask him," Prue told her.

"Do you think Rachel's going to remember her dream? She could think it was just a dream and not real. How can we explain to her that her parents are gone? It's going to really hurt her," Phoebe said. Just then, they hear something and turn toward Rachel.

"Oh," Rachel groaned and stirred a bit as all three of them gathered around her bed.

"Come on Rachel, you can do it!" Piper said.

"Oh man. What was that? A horrible dream? What is that terrible smell?" Rachel cried as the horrid smell brought her to complete consciousness.

"A sewer backed up!" Phoebe said, trying to cover up what really happened.

"Hi, Rachel? So what's going on?" Piper asked cutely.

"You tell me. I am the one in the hospital! Why all the bandages?" Rachel asked looking so confused and looking at all the tubes in her arms.

"It's just so good to see you awake," Prue said.

"There was a short circuit in the monitor wiring!" Piper said not too convincingly.

Rachel was too tired and weak to disagree and looked away as if ready to cry. Phoebe looked over to Prue and Piper wondering if she knew. "What's wrong sweetie," Phoebe asked looking concerned.

"I'm not sure, but I have this really terrible feeling that something happened. I had a dream, but it was hazy. All I saw what looked like a trailer falling over a cliff," Rachel told her as Phoebe shut her eyes tightly trying not to show what she knew.

Just then, Dr. Sherman walks in with a distressed look on his face. "Excuse me Miss Williams, can I speak with you. Alone," he said looking toward Prue, Phoebe and Piper.

"That's okay, we'll be back. We'll bring you some orange juice, okay?" Phoebe said.

"Okay. Thanks," Rachel answered back looking a little worried.

Phoebe, Prue and Piper left the room and shut the door behind. Phoebe looked through the small window in the door and watched Dr. Sherman and Rachel talking. Then a few seconds later, she saw her sobbing as Dr. Sherman leaned down and gave her a hug. Phoebe wished she knew what he had said to her that made her cry.

Prue and Piper walked up to Phoebe and handed her Rachel's orange juice just as Dr. Sherman started walking to the door when they all quickly ran to the chairs in the hallway and sat down.

"You can see her now," Dr. Sherman says as he walked down the hallway.

They walked into Rachel's room as Phoebe sat on the edge of her bed and handed her the juice. Prue and Piper sat on the chair next to the bed as they all looked at each other solemnly, then back to Rachel.

"What's wrong? What did Dr. Sherman say to you? Is there something medically wrong?" Phoebe asked.

"No," Rachel said with tears streaming down her face, "I'M ALL ALONE, PHOEBE!"

"No you're not, we're all here for you," Phoebe told her as a few tears ran down her cheek.

Prue and Piper looked at each other and realized what Dr. Sherman told her and they began to get teary-eyed themselves.

"PHOEBE! DR. SHERMAN JUST TOLD ME MY PARENTS DIED IN A CAR ACCIDENT WHILE THEY WERE TRAVELING IN COLORADO! I DON'T HAVE A FAMILY ANYMORE, PHOEBE!" Rachel yelled as she cried harder as she started moving around more.

Prue and Piper walked to the other side of her bed to try to help her calm down before she pulled out her IV tubes or her stitches. Prue grabbed a hold of Rachel and tried to hug her as Piper started stroking her hair to try to calm her.

Nevertheless, the feeling Rachel was having was beginning to affect them as well. Phoebe, Prue and Piper were crying, too. They know what it feels like to lose a parent. Rachel began trembling.

Suddenly, Rachel turned toward the table next to her, picked up a vase of flowers, hurled them across the room, and began screaming and crying out in anger. She picked up the pitcher of water and hurled it across the room, as Piper quickly moved before it could hit her.

"NOOOOOOOOO! THEY CANNOT BE GONE! IT'S UNFAIR!" Rachel yelled as she pounded her bed with her fists. Her bandages on her arms began to unravel.

"Hey you guys help me here," Phoebe asked Prue and Piper.

Prue and Piper put their arms around Rachel once more and held on to her. Rachel began to fight from their grasp and began hitting them as she screamed out, "NOOOOOO! LEAVE ME ALONE! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

Piper could not take this anymore. She could not take the pain and hurt that Rachel was going through, turned, walked to the window, and tried to keep her emotional state to herself. Prue tries to prevent Rachel from hurting herself and tries to hold on to her.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! PLEASE! JUST LET ME DIE! I DO NOT DESERVE TO LIVE! I DO NOT WANT TO LIVE! I JUST WANT MY MOM AND DAD!" she cried out as she continued to bang her fists against the metal bars on the sides of the bed.

Prue and Piper saw that Rachel was wearing herself out from all this moving around and screaming. She was getting tired, and sweat was dripping down the side of her face, but she was still very angry and very hurt.

Phoebe cried quietly as she got on the bed behind Rachel, grabbed her in a tight hug, and gently held her as she continued to scream out and sob uncontrollably. Phoebe tried to hold on to her tightly, but not too tight, so she does not hurt her more than she already is.

Prue and Piper had a hard time getting through this ordeal. Rachel continued to cry, as Phoebe held onto her tightly when she began to struggle a bit to try to get out of her grasp. After a grueling fifteen minutes what seemed more like fifteen hours, Rachel finally began calming down when she suddenly tired herself out and laid her head down on Phoebe's lap with Phoebe's arms around her. Phoebe looked up at her sisters and said, "Doesn't this get any easier?" Phoebe asks them.

Piper looks over at Phoebe, then over to Prue with sadness as she wipes tears from her face and lets out a big sigh.

Ten minutes later, Rachel had cried herself to sleep in Phoebe's arms. Phoebe does not want to move afraid she will wake up, so she decides to close her eyes for a few minutes and just rest. Prue and Piper had fallen asleep on the chair next to the bed as well.

* * *

A couple of hours later, Phoebe wakes up and notices she has been asleep for a long time. She feels that her arms are numb from holding Rachel, so she carefully and quietly tries to get out of the bed without waking her, too late, Rachel woke up.

"Hey you. Are you feeling any better?" Phoebe asks.

"Okay, I guess. Phoebe?" Rachel asks.

"Yeah," Phoebe answers.

"Um...uh...I just want to say that...that I'm..." Rachel starts.

"I know it is okay. I know you were just hurting," Phoebe tells her.

"I'm...I'm sorry I yelled at you, Phoebe. I'm never going to yell at you again, I promise," Rachel said as she looked away feeling ashamed of herself.

"Hey Rachel, you have every right to yell and scream and cry, it's the only way to let all your feelings out, it's healthy. It's okay, I understand completely," Phoebe says smiling at her, "I probably needed a good yelling at anyway. I am sure Prue probably would agree. She probably has one good yell for me for something." Rachel chuckled as Phoebe smiled at her. Just then Prue and Piper woke up hearing them talking. "Hey you two. Looks as though we all took a little nap, huh?" Phoebe says.

"Yes well, Rachel is the one supposed to be resting, not us," Prue says.

"Well, crying can take a lot out of people, especially us women," Phoebe answers.

"And now Miss Rachel, you should be on the road to recovery soon," Phoebe says.

"And hopefully living elsewhere!" Prue said quietly to her sisters.

"I think I need some more rest; I feel really tired!" Rachel said as she quickly began falling back to sleep.

"Sleep tight princess," Piper whispered, "Oops, wrong choice of words. I'm never going to say THAT word again as long as I live."

"Bye Rachel," Phoebe and Prue said together as Rachel drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

A couple of days later all three of them were visiting Rachel in her room. She was sitting up now, though still heavily bandaged.

"You look 100% better," Piper said.

"These flowers are for you!" Phoebe handed to Rachel.

"I want to give you a hug, but you don't look too huggable right now and I don't want to hurt you. You do look wonderful and alive. And that's the way we want YOU!" Prue said.

"Thanks, guys! You're the only family I have now!" Rachel said quietly.

"You're always welcome in our house!" Prue said.

Piper cleared her throat as she looked at Prue at Phoebe.

"But after you recover, we want to help you get back on your feet and on your own. Now, you NEED to take that first step Rachel," Phoebe said.

"But first recover. You have a long way to go baby, but you are still family...that is 'our' family. In addition, you have a reason to believe that is true. We've been together for so long," Piper said.

"That's certainly true," Rachel said a little bit more chipper now.

"Sure, do you remember the time that..." Phoebe said as she started to reminisce.

And boy, what tales they will have to tell...

**The End**


End file.
